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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



Graphic Sketches 



OF 



THE WEST 



BY 



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Henry Brainard Kent. 



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CHICAGO 
R. R. DONNELLEY & SONS, PUBLISHERS 

1890 



COPYRIGHT 1890 

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THE WtSTFIELD PAPER CO. 



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To 

My Genial Companion in Travel, 
Elwin R, Kent, Esq., 

(" The Secretary ") 

These Pages Are Fraternally Inscribed. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

Flight to Tropical Climes. 

Taking Leave of Boreas. — "In Search of Winter Sun-beams." 
Scenes and Incidents along the Route — The International 
Hopper, — Mischief of a Mountain Fairy. — New Mexico. 

— The Pacific Coast. — Solid Comfort 15 

CHAPTER II. 

Southern California. 

Los Angeles, — Eastern People Seeking a Sanitarium. — Booms in 

Real.Estate. — How the Newcomer is Entertained 28 

CHAPTER III. 

In Pursuit of Game. 

Operating in Jack Rabbits. — The Secretary and his Wild Meat 
Enterprise — Amateur Sporting League — The Degenerate 
Jack. — Wild Game of the Pacific Slope 44 

CHAPTER IV. 

Climbing the Sierra Madres. 

A Feat of Pedestrianism. — Ascent to the Top of Mount Wilson. 

— Half- Way House. — A Treacherous Spot in the Trail. 

— Other Perplexities. — Overcoming Snow-bound Steeps. — 
Panorama From the Summit. — A Novel Ride _ 61 

CHAPTER V. 

RAMBLhS BY Rail 

San Gabriel — Ontario. — San Bernardino. — Riverside. — Princi- 
pal Towns on the Coast. — Peculiar Flora of the Coast Range. 

— Retrospect - - - 75 



6 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VI. 

Into the Heart of the Sierras. 

The Ride Through the San Joaquin. — A German Financier and 
Government Prices — Gold Mines, Deer, Pigeons and Quails. 
— " Big Tree " Station. — The Summit. — Inspiration Peak__ 87 

CHAPTER VII. 

Earth's Crowning Glory. 

A Fairyland of Picturesque Scenes in the Yosemite — El Capitan 
and His Battalion of Boulders and Monoliths. — Rides and 
Rambles About the Valley. — Tracing Cafions. — Imposing 
Cataracts — Inspiring Peaks. — Dizzy Heights. — Kaleido- 
scopic Scenes. — Never-ending Beauties .- loi 

CHAPTER VIII. 

The Mammoth Trees. 

The Mariposa and Calaveras Groves. — Vegetable Curiosities. — 
" Grizzly Giant." — " Wawona." — Other Celebrities and 
Other Prolific Species of the Sierras. — The Fifty Mile Flume. 120 

CHAPTER IX. 

Objects of Interest in the Golden State. 

San Francisco and Its Superb Hotels. — Golden Gate Park. — Cliff 
House. — Chinatown. — San Francisco to Mount Shasta. — 
Lake County. — The Geysers. — Petrified Forest. — Wild 
Mountain Staging. — Blue Lakes. — Saratoga Springs. — Re- 
creations 134 

CHAPTER X. 

The Climate of California. 

Local and Other Opinions. — Theory of Uniform Temperature. 
— A Fine Winter Resort. — The Warmer Months. — Heat of 
the Interior Valleys, — The Coast. — Northern California. — 
Its Foot Hills and Mountain Retreats. — Thermal Belt. — 
Precaution 149 



CONTENTS. 7 

CHAPTER XI. 

The City of the Saints. 

Leaving the " Golden State." — Crossing the Sierras. — The Desert 
Ride. — Salt Lake City and Its Picturesque Environments. — 
Features of Interest. — Temple Block. — Strange Institutions. 

— A Noted Mormon Avenue. — The City and Its People. — A 
Boy's Opinion of His Grandfather 167 

CHAPTER XII. 

In Pursuit of Knowledge. 

Indoor and Outdoor Mormonism. — The Soul of the System. — The 
Communicative Saint Who Had Traveled a Long Road — 
Mormonism the Exponent of all Wisdom. — Plural Marriage. 

— The Second Revelation Knocks Out the First. — Whatever 

the Church Says is Right. — Development of the Gods 186 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Statehood for Utah. 

Sudden Stampede of the Saints — " The Peoples' Party" and Their 
Bid to the Gentiles. — The Proposed Constitution, — Fine 
Diplomatic Distinctions. — Vital Parts of Mormonism. — Trap 
Doors. — Monogamists, — Martyrs. — Make up of Mormondom 204 

CHAPTER XIV. 
From the Jordan to the Uncompahgre. 

Utah Valley. — Over the Wasatch. — Wonders of the Price River. 

— Castle Gate and Canon. — Rock-hewn Battlements. — Na- 
ture's Architecture. — Castle of Torquilston and Its Strange 
Occupants, — The Uncompahgre Valley 223 

CHAPTER XV. 

Over the Rockies. — Montrose to Manitou. 

Cimarron. — Black Caiion of the Gunnison. — Its Distinctive 
Features. — Chippeta Falls. — Currecanti Needle. — Climbing 
the Steeps. — Among the Clouds. — Marshall Pass. — Grand 
Canon of the Arkansas. — The Royal Gorge. — Whither are 
We Bound ? — Tartarus or Elysium ? — Pike's Peak, Manitou 
and Garden of the Gods 233 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE. 

Scenes in the Golden State, - - - - - 14 

Starting for the Tropics, - - - - - -17 

A Canon of the Gallinas, - - - - - 21 

Pueblo Indians, New Mexico. - - - _ - 23 

Giant Cactus of Arizona, - - - - - 24 

Starting for the Canons. ------ 25 

Southern California Orange Orchard, - - - 31 

Presenting His Cause, ------ 35 

Scenes in the San Gabriel Valley, - - - . 41 

To Be Handled With Care, ----- 47 

Mistaking His Intent, - - - • - 51 
Irreclaimable, ----'--55 

California Vulture, ------ 59 

A Refreshing Stream, ------ 64 

Cascade in the Sierra Madres, . - - - 68 

The Last Pull, ------- 70 

Southern California Panorama, . - - _ 72 

View in San Antonio Canon, Ontario, Cal., - - - 76 

Inside and Outside Headers, ----- 78 

Santa Barbara Mission, ------ 80 

View From Castle Rock, near Santa Barbara, - - 82 

Scene in the Coast Range. . . - - - 84 

Tropical Luxuriance, Del Monte, - - - - 86 

The Loop, ------- 89 

The Flume, - - - - - - - 92 

A Cascade in the Sierras, ----- 93 

Summits of the Sierra Nevadas, _ - - - 95 

Entrance to Yosemite Valley, ----- 98 

Yosemite in Early Times, ----- 103 

Bridal Veil Fall, ... - - - 105 

Cathedral Rocks, ------ 106 

The Sentinel, - lo? 

Yosemite Falls, ...--- 109 

9 



10 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE, 

Mirror Lake, - - - - - " - m 

North Dome, ------- 112 

South Dome, ------- "S 

Views in the Valley, - - - - - ■ ^^5 

Falls of the Yosemite, - - - - " - 117 

Among the Pines of the Sierras, - - - - "9 

Measuring the Grizzly Giant, - - - - - 121 

The Wawona, ------- ^23 

Hollow Trunk, ------- 125 

Keystone State, - - - - - " ^^7 

In the High Sierras, .----- 129 

On the Coast, -..--- 131 

Cliff House, - - 133 

On Wheels, Through Golden Gate Park, - - - I35 

Alley, Chinese Quarters, ------ I37 

San Francisco Bay, - - - - " * ^39 

Vulcan's Steam Works, ■ - - - - - 141 

The Petrified Forest, - - - " * " ^^3 

The Devil's Canon. ------ i-}5 

Rough but Romantic, . - - - - 147 

Fruit Scene in Southern California, - - - - 151 

Tropic Foliage, Coast, - - - - - ^53 

Residence Montecito, Coast, ----- I55 

Woodard's Gardens, Golden Gate, - - - - ^57 

Napa Soda Springs, Orange and Vine Culture, - - - 161 

Fruit Ranches, Northern California, - - - - 163 

Haunts of the Trout, ------ 167 

The State Capitol, - - - ■ " " ^7i 

Over the Sierra Summits, ----- 173 

Lake Esther, Sierra Nevada Mountains, - - ' I75 
Lake Donner, - - - - - " -177 

Lake Tahoe, ..----- ^79 

Scenes in the Nevada Desert, - - * - - 181 

" Hostile Elements," - ----- 183 

Bird's-Eye View of Salt Lake City, - - - - 189 

Seeking Information, ------ 19^ 

The Temple, ------- ^95 

The Tabernacle, - - - - - 197 

Bee Hive House, - - - - - - ^99 

The Great Salt Lake, ----- 201 



LIST or ILLUSTRATIONS. 11 

PAGE. 

Eagle Gate, - - - . - . - 205 

Amelia Palace, --_„-. 207 

Lion's Head Rock, Great Salt Lake, - - _ _ 209 

Tramway in Little Cottonwood Canon, - - - 211 
Weber Canon, - - - - - - -215 

Echo Canon, - - - - - - - 217 

A Romantic Retreat, American Fork Caiion, - - - 219 

Castle Gate, ----_-_ 225 

Uncompahgre River, ....._ 227 

On the Reservation, ------ 229 

Approach to the Black Canon, - - - - - 235 

In the Black Canon, ------ 237 

Currecanti Needle, -_---. 239 

Marshall Pass, ------ 241 

Royal Gorge, -..--.-- 243 

A Refreshing Spring, Cascade Canon, - - - 244 

A Cool Retreat, Cascade Caiion, ----- 245 

Queen of the Canons, ------ 246 

The Balanced Rock, --.--- 247 

Manitou and Pike's Peak, - - - - » 249 

Rock Formations, Garden of the Gods, - - . - 251 

Gateway to the Garden of the Gods. - » - - 253 



PREFACE. 



The contents of " Graphic Sketches of the West " 
are made up of selected portions of the writer's cor- 
respondence, recently published in two leading New 
York newspapers, and special articles and additions 
written for the express purposes of the book. 

Its presence on the market in this form is largely 
due to the encouragement which the published por- 
tions have already received from the press and the 
public, having been not only widely quoted, but 
also the subject of many pleasant allusions, to which 
the author's attention has often been kindly directed 
by the editors and their associates. The latter 
have also suggested the title which the book bears. 

It is, perhaps, pertinent to apprize the reader that 
this volume is not intended as a guide in the extreme 
sense. As such, it is feared that it might guide the 
tourist into some of the undesirable complications and 
indescribable embarrassments which the writer has 
experienced, and which he could not cheerfully 
recommend to the traveling public. But, in a more 
practical sense, it is believed that it will serve as a 
general guide to the country described, since it either 

12 



PREFACE. 13 

gives detailed descriptions or makes brief mention 
of the principal objects of interest on the Pacific 
coast and the leading attractions of transcontinental 
routes. All details of small towns and cumbrous 
statistics, however, have been carefully avoided, that 
greater prominence might be given the more unique 
manifestations of life and character, and, especially, 
the eccentric and noteworthy exhibitions of nature. 

The articles have been written as prompted by the 
suggestiveness of the subject in hand, entirely inde- 
pendent of corporate interests, and wdth appreciative 
readers always in mind. It is, therefore, hoped they 
will be cheerfully welcomed by such as maintain 
lively interest in the amenities of travel, at the same 
time serve practical purposes to the tourist and 
health- seeker, and in general both inform and please. 




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CHAPTER I. 

FLIGHT TO TROPICAL CLIMES. 

The tourist who visits Southern California in mid- 
winter undergoes a metamorphosis hard to explain. 
People often wonder how it comes about that the grum 
and cantankerous habitant of the north is transformed 
into the cymophanous and agreeable bird that he is 
after reaching this country. The transition however, 
though complex and peculiar, is not entirely beyond 
the student of morphology. The writer, after much 
laborious investigation, has succeeded in eliciting facts 
and phenomena which ought to throw some light on 
this abstruse and hitherto unexplored field of research. 

Beofinnino- with the first sta^^es of the transforma- 
tion, the subject wakes up some frosty morning on the 
shores of the northern lakes and finds that, by some 
inadvertence, his room had not been hermetically 
sealed when he retired. The cold, piercing wind, 
charged with the terror of the lakes, lays siege to his 
slumbers, plays with his auburn locks, and by the 
break of dawn provides him with a swollen head and a 
new vocabulary. Bounding from his crib, he brushes 
about the room and summarily exhausts all the re- 

15 



16 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

sources at liis commaud for raising the temperature. 
Failing in this, he vainly tries, by both bell and yell, 
to raise the porter, and then sets about to raise Cain 
generally, and succeeds. Hastily pulling on his 
clothes, with one end of his collar buttoned to his vest, 
he rushes down to the office, peals off a volley of in- 
structive epithets to the landlord, exhausts Crabb's 
Book of Synonyms in cursing the house, and vocifer- 
ously declares his intention to skip the country and 
drown his troubles in the balm and sunshine of tropical 
skies. 

Proceeding to put his resolve into execution, he 
takes the first train for Chicago, en route for the semi- 
tropics. On the journey he now and then opens the 
double-breasted car windows, humanely provided by 
large-hearted railroad managers, only to find that no 
change in the temperature is to be felt within telephone 
distance of the lakes. Perhaps at Chicago he may 
make life tolerable for a day or two within closed 
doors, especially if, as in the case of the writer, he en- 
joys the hospitality of one hundred and eighty test 
city cousins. But life loses its fascination the moment 
he steps out into the street, while a half-mile ride in a 
Chicago open "grip "(called by citizens "the refriger- 
ator,") makes life no longer worth living for the time 
being. The next step is to call down the blessings 
of Olympus upon the heads of the convivial friends 
who have made your advent to the "Garden City" 
(not in winter) a festal occasion. Next after this is 
to call up the curses of Acheron against the hyper- 
boreaii blizzards that patrol up and down the northerii 



FLIGHT TO TROPICAL CLIMES. 



17 










V ...ill:: .; 



' r^?p***T3V'L'>»-^ ' ■;■. r'f ■•.-. 










STARTING FOR THE TROPICS. 



lakes without salary, and then push southward by fast 
express. 

From Chicago to Kansas City the aggrieved fugi- 
tive from northern blasts, while enjoying the comforts 
of easy reclining chairs, elegant dining cars, the deli- 
cacies of the season, a good night's rest and moderating 



18 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

temperature, also gradually modifies his pessimistic 
views of life. As morning breaks upon his bewildered 
eye-balls, the first promise of endurable existence 
breaks upon his soul, and a thrill of ecstacy takes him 
in the back as he contemplates the practicability of 
crossing the platform to the dining car without con- 
gealing his marrow. Shortly he reaches Kansas City 
and is unceremoniously ushered into one of the great- 
est hippodromes on the continent — the Kansas City 
Union Depot. Here drummer, tourist, merchant, 
farmer, Negro, Chinaman, Jap, emigrant, millionaire 
— the elite, riff-raff and tag-rag of creation are all 
shoveled in together from the four quarters of the 
globe. Out-going trains make a daily sweep of this 
mixed population, only to make room for other in-com- 
ing hordes of equally interesting yet new specimens of 
creative genius. From this romantic city, situated on 
bluffs overlooking the Missouri river and its bordering 
prairies, the slowly evolving Californian pushes west 
and south by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad. 
For hundreds of miles he rides through prolific fields 
of vast extent, where standing stalks display an ex- 
travagance of growth that makes him more or less 
chagrined to think that he once tried to get rich rais- 
ing corn on eastern city lots. In like manner the vast 
herds of cattle, roaming over the prairies bordering the 
Arkansas, bring up these same emotions when he re- 
calls his late efforts in the east to build up a flourish- 
ing live stock business on one head of cattle and a 
quarter interest in the neighborhood pig. But this 



FLIGHT TO TROPICAL CLIMES. 19 

has nothing to do with the climatic features of the 
journey, except indirectly. 

But lo! as we enter Colorado, the snowy summits 
of the Rockies appear, dazzling in the sunlight, ninety 
miles away, and soon the white Spanish Peaks loom 
upward in the distant sky. Beaching their base, we 
proceed to "surmount the rocky steeps." Up! up! 
one hundred and eighty five feet to the mile, we soon 
reach a land of frost and snow, still climbing until, 
six thousand feet in air, we are landed in the city 
of the Trinity — called Trinidad — the name, by the 
way, forming the principal religious association of the 
place. On entering this city it is with some difficulty 
that the tourist dispels the misleading impression that 
he is on his way back to Chicago, so visible are the 
signs of returning winter. While coming up this 
grade to Trinidad, occurs a little incident that may 
have an important bearing upon the tourist's future 
career in life. At a small way station near the base 
of the mountains a young damsel with roseate cheeks 
and luxuriant tresses enters the car in which you are 
seated. Her radiant eyes and erubescent lips captivate 
the beholder at first sight. All thoughts and higher 
ambitions are at once banished and bartered for the 
seemingly laudable desire of sharing the same seat, 
or at least enterinof into as^reeable conversation with 
this bewitching fairy of th^ mountains. She appears 
to be acquainted with all the local passengers, talks 
with the seedy swain and lavishes her ravishing smiles 
upon the hoary-headed patriarch who hobbles about 
upon an antediluvian crutch; but not a word, nor 



20 ORAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

a smile, nor a look of recognition lias slie for the worthy 
and blameless youth who so covets her addresses. 
It is of no avail to offer her the morning paper, knock 
an umbrella out of her hand by accident and humbly 
beg pardon — or even to inveigle an old fat man into 
her momentarily vacated seat and then graciously 
offer her ladyship a half interest in your own. 
Every strategem fails, and finally the rebuffed and 
discomfited youth strives to forget his defeats and 
disappointments by writing up his long neglected 
diary. After writing for half an hour with dynam- 
ical earnestness and seven-league- boot speed he 
begins to sneeze, wheeze, cough, snuffle and whoop. 
Casting a nervous glance to the rear, he discovers to 
his astonishment that this fair " Flower of Paradise,'' 
that deigned not to favor him with so much as a leer 
from her blooming and bewitching countenance, had 
seen fit to raise the window at his back and let in upon 
his defenceless head the unpropitious atmosphere of 
this mountain regfion. The cold which he contracts 
on this occasion is warranted to remain in statu quo 
after the usual administrations of hot punch and whis- 
ky sling, stand bullet-proof against compound oxygen, 
successfully resist all the medicinal virtues of New 
Mexico's boasted climate, and at the end of fourteen 
days show no more signs of being reduced than the 
price of board. 

Beware of Circe's cunning arts 

And the winsome maid of Trinidad, 
Lencosia's tongue, the queen of hearts, 
A draught at the back 

And a fearful cold in the head. 



22 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

Stopping over one day at Trinidad to get a little 
initiated into Mexican life, introductory to the bigger 
dose to be taken further on, the climate-seeker again 
boards the train and pushes still on and up until he 
reaches the Raton Pass, which he enters in the snowy 
Colorado heights and from which he emerges into the 
sunny land of New Mexico. In going up this precip- 
itous height to the pass, the train is divided into two 
sections to make sure that the iron horses ( at least two 
to a train) will be equal to the ascent. By mistake 
the representative tourist boards the first section that 
comes along, and rides up the incline in a mysterious 
car that quite staggers his sensibilities. Its inmates 
seem to be contentedly employed in the various arts 
and industries, cooking beefsteak, washing dishes, 
mopping, "getting out Avashings " (in which latter oc- 
cupation the washerwoman utilizes the bell rope for a 
clothes-line), and other domestic duties, all in harmon- 
ious operation. Having inquired of the conductor if 
the laundry and restaurant connected with the car are 
first class, and not being given the fullest assurance 
that they are, the luckless passenger, satisfied that he 
has " taken the wrong berth," disembarks at Eaton. 
Here he transfers himself and effects to the second 
section, that has now pulled up to the summit. 

From Raton the descent is made with such rapidity 
as to cause a depressing sensation on the ear-drum, 
similar to that experienced in descending a coal mine. 
Having passed the extensive cattle ranches of Dorsey 
and Ingersoll and the historic Wagon Mound, the 
rambler arrives at Las Yegas and its famous hot 



V 



FLIGHT TO TROPICAL CLIMES. 



23 



springs. Here he will be informed that an English 
gentleman, but a short time since, shot himself because 
he could not pay his bill at the Phoenix. Whereupon 
the listener is expected to make the following remark: 
" I would sooner think of shooting myself because I 
have to pay my bills." Then, after looking around to 




PUEBLO INDIANS, NEW MEXICO. 



see if any one has wit enough to see what a tremendous 
joke has been elaborated, he is ready to sample the 
cuisine of the institution. After taking one meal at 
this palace of luxury, built by railroad enterprise, he 
no longer wonders that a sensitive nature should have 
a feeling of delicacy about going off without paying 



24 



GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 



his bill. This is a good place to feed an ordinary cold, 
and would doubtless put to rout almost any variety 
except that contracted while ascending the Trinidad 
heights. A fortnight's sojourn in this vicinity is most 
amusing and interesting. It affords the tourist an ex- 
cellent opportunity to observe the peculiarities of the 




GIANT CACTUS OF ARIZONA. 
(Sixty feet high.) 

Mexican "burro," (a demure, philosophical and recal- 
citrant variety of mule,) study the various forms and 
configurations of the ubiquitous "adobe" and various 
other phenomena, either ancient or odd, or both. The 
Mexican hasn't yet forsaken his wooden plow, carries 
stove-wood to market on horseback, and positively re- 
fuses to advance with the times. 




STARTING FOR THE CANONS. 



26 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

A most delightful ramble from the Phoenix Hotel 
is that up the river and canons of the Gallinas. In 
these retreats of the mountains, nature poses in some 
of her loveliest attitudes, and few places will be found 
more picturesque and pleasing. 

The tourist who is abroad for the purpose of sight- 
seeing, will not forget to stop off at Santa Fe — at 
least if interested in the antiquities and historical 
associations of the country. While here he will find 
it equally worth his pains to visit the mysterious 
relics of the far past, to be found at Embudo and 
other places a few miles north on the Denver and Rio 
Grande. 

Leaving Santa Fe and casting a long, lingering, 
puzzled look back upon the long-headed "burro" and 
the short-waisted adobe hut, the pilgrim, destined to 
the land of sunny skies, passes through vast mountain 
regions, rich in mineral ores, over brick-colored lands, 
endless cactus fields, alkali lakes and desert wastes, and 
after a three days' ride, pulls up on the Pacific Coast, 
wondering if he is the same fellow that kicked up such 
a row at a certain eastern hotel because the climate 
wasn't half cooked. These are substantially the ex- 
periences of the reader's humble servant and the same 
programme is said to be in vogue for all making the 
trip under precisely the same circumstances. 

The country over on this side of Uncle Sam's 
dominion is really siii generis. Warm breezes and 
cloudless skies, are served upon nature's lunch counter 
and at greatly reduced rates. Orange trees blossom, 
bud and bear, all at the same time ; ripe tomatoes and 



FLIGHT TO TROPICAL CLIMES. 



27 



real estate agents hang on all the year round, and the 
elements generally conspire to keep the muscles of the 
body and the buttons of the coat in a state of agreeable 
relaxation. People of the North, shivering in their 
overcoats, look with distrust upon all midwinter allu- 
sions to sultry skies, blooming flowers and ripening 
fruits. They are not however, poetic effusions, but, on 
the contrary, real, unvarnished and unsophisticated 
truths. The writer receives, almost daily, letters from 
the East, calling him an unconditional hypocrite and 
Janus -headed wolf in sheep's hide for sending these 
weather reports home to his friends. But I repeat they 
are mathematical verities and hold myself responsible 
for any mischief or inconvenience they may cause such 
as receive them without cavil or suspicion. The medi- 
cinal virtues of this country are beyond dispute. I 
have myself received more benefit here in one afternoon 
reading Buck Fanshaw and the binomial theorem than 
in cursino: climate in the North for a whole winter. 




CHAPTER 11. 



SOUTHER.N CALIFORNIA. 




HE people who have always lived in 
the staid East have but faiut con- 
ception of the significance of the 
word "boom" — especially in the 
sense in which it has been illustrat- 
ed in this locality. The cause of 
this is probably the great influx 
of Eastern people who have learned 
of Southern California as a sanita- 
rium. In 1880, the population of Los Angeles was 
only eleven thousand. Now it is about fifty thousand. 
In December, 1886, four thousand tourists from the 
East came to this city during one week. Some idea 
of the Southern California boom may be conceived 
from the fact that in the year just mentioned thirteen 
thousand conveyances of re.d estate were made and 
twenty eight million dollars changed hands in Los 
Angeles county alone. This was nearly three times 
that of the preceding year, and though the ball still 
rolls, the prices are less fantastic and confounding. 
The old-time furor of '48 has never been fairly up- 
rooted from California soil. This mania for rampant 
speculation seems to have become dovetailed into all 

28 



SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 29 

the thoughts and sentiments of society. As inoffen- 
sive as the writer has always been reputed, it has 
been lively work for him to resist the elements of the 
all -pervading craze. 

Upon reaching this county, about the first thing 
after making a few side trips to make sure of my 
whereabouts, was to make for an orange orchard. A 
large black dog made for me — I made for the fence. 
The owner suddenly made his appearance and re- 
quested me to explain. I was somewhat out of breath, 
but managed to collect my wind and wits, and replied: 
" Sir, I want to buy a good dog, and, seeing this one, 
I hooked the peroration of my coat into his bicuspids 
and walked off to see how hard he could pull." 

"Well, I'll sell him to you — will sell anything, in 
fact — how does he suit ? Does he pull satisfactorily ? " 

After bantering awhile and concluding the dog 
wasn't of the right color, I pushed on to the next 
fruit ranch, where there were no dogs for sale, and 
the owner of the ranch was totally blind. But this is 
a strange country, and notwithstanding the eternal 
darkness that clouded his brow, the old farmer ap- 
proached and remarked: 

"I am glad to see you. Where are you from?" 

" The East, sir," I replied. 

"Indeed!" continued the voluble gray-beard, "I 
was once an Easterner myself, but I have been here 
long enough to get my eyes opened." 

"What! will this climate cure blindness? I have 
heard it was good for the wind, but this is something 
new you are telling me." 



30 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

" No, climate can't do it, but real estate agents 
can. These fellows can open the eyes of an amblyop- 
sis and make a man see stars with his collar bone." 

"Aha! you seem to be up in science a little." 

" Yes, I went to college in my younger days, but 
education is no protection to a man here when he is 
dealing with real estate agents. Nine-tenths of all 
the people who come here from the East have amau- 
rosis of the eye-balls. They can't see with their eyes 
wide open half as much as a blind man with his eye- 
teeth cut." 

" Now, Professor, I came here to buy a few oranges 
to eat, but I am greatly interested in this real estate 
business #ind want to learn all I can about it. I have 
heard it talked about ever since, and, for that matter, 
before, I left New York, and now that I am here I 
don't hear anything else." 

" Well, I can tell you all there is to it in very tew 
words. Did you notice that fruit ranch about eighty 
rods below here as you came along? " 

" Yes, sir. I called there a few minutes ago to see 
about buying a dog." 

" Did you notice what a fine place it was? " 

"Yes, sir, on approaching it; but when I came 
away I was in somewhat of a hurry and didn't look 
around much." 

" Well, what should you say that small twenty by 
thirty house and those twenty acres of land ought to 
be worth?" 

"O! say one hundred and twenty-five dollars per 
acre." 



32 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

" Well," continued the reverend gaffer, " that's 
about all it's worth, but three years ago it sold at one 
thousand five hundred dollars per acre." 

" G-r-e-a-t Scotland! Why! you can buy city lots 
East for that price. Was it really Avorth it at that 
time?" 

"No; but it sold for that." 

"To whom?" 

" Some Eastern chap paid that for it — " 

" But Yankees don't generally pay for more than 
they get?" I interrupted. 

"So it is in this case. I see you look puzzled, but 
I'll explain. Now look me square in the eye and I'll 
elucidate." (Somehow I couldn't get track of the old 
man's eye, but he proceeded:) 

" Now it's on this wise. You fellows from the East 
come out here with a busted lung, the back-ache, or 
some malady of some sort that's got into the family, 
and before you are fairly planted on the platform here, 
you are spotted by a real estate agent. In a day or 
two you are seen driving around the country with him. 
As you take in the air and discover it to be an im- 
provement on that which you left in the smoker, you 
are informed with much glow of sentiment that this is 
the only country the Almighty ever intended man 
should inhabit. Well, to cut the matter short, in less 
than three days, you are in possession of papers con- 
veying clear title to twenty-five or fifty feet front of 
this California climate — the same to extend backwards 
one hundred feet, and upwards to the seventh heaven 
— to have and to hold henceforth eternally and forever. 



SPUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 33 

Thousands of Eastern people come to this valley every 
season, and not a small per cent, of them are ' brayed 
in the mortar.' No wonder land has been high." 

" Then you think people from the East don't get 
their money's worth here?" 

" O, they get what they pay for. The man who 
buys this ranch where you say you went to buy a dog, 
pays about two hundred and fifty dollars per acre for 
the land, one hundred and fifty dollars for irrigating 
privileges, and the remaining eleven hundred dollars 
per acre for climate, gush, livery bills, getting his eyes 
opened, and so forth." 

" Now, sire, just what does a man pay for climate 
in the above transaction?" 

" Well, ' sonny,' you've got me. This matter of 
climate is a variable factor and very hard to estimate. 
It depends largely on location. Fifty feet front of it 
in Los Angeles or Pasadena often brings as much as 
five or ten acres out here in the country. The same 
acreage of climate is worth more to one man than 
another also. Hence you see we can't just size up this 
climate business, exactly." 

" But so long as Eastern people can sell what they 
buy for as much or more than they pay, they are not 
hoodwinked very much, are they?" 

" Perhaps not, but some morning somebody wakes 
up and discovers that he can't realize on his investment. 
His neighbor and his neighbors' neighbor discover 
the same thing, and a new slate is made up." 

" But isn't this one of the most charming valleys of 
California?" 
3 



34 GKAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

" Yes, this is one of the eighty-seven most charm- 
ing valleys of the State, and when the State becomes 
more fully developed they are all going to be stretched 
on the bed of Procrustes together — at least so far as 
the ' charming ' business is concerned. They are all 
charming and one is about as much so as another — 
at least I can't tell any difference in them." 

" Then you don't think these speculators will suc- 
ceed in getting a corner in this climate?" 

"Hardly. A State that is equal in size to all of 
New England, New York and New Jersey, with room 
enough left to fence in Switzerland and half a dozen 
States like Delaware, isn't going to be cornered right 
away." 

" I know. Professor, but isn't there a good deal of 
waste land in the State? " 

" There are one hundred million acres of land in 
California, and thirty million of these are capable of 
a high state of cultivation; and as far as climate is 
concerned, almost any of it is good enough for a king. 
No; these real estate operators can't get a corner in 
this country." 

" Well, uncle, if I keep on asking questions, I'm 
afraid Pll talk the daylights out of you." 

"I wish they might be talked into me; but you 
spoke about some oranges. Just come this way and 
I'll show you my Washington Navels." 

With elated jowl and glowing palate I followed on 
in the footsteps of the venerable rustic as he led the 
way to a place where 



SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 35 

* * * " The lemon and piercing- lime, 

Witli the deep orange glowing through the green, 

Their lighter glories blend." 

Oil the Avay the process of irrigating orange orchards 
was illustrated, the manner of storing the water in res- 
ervoirs in the mountains described, and the mysteries 
and methods of irrigation generally unfolded. It ap- 
pears the water is owned by companies, who sell it to 
the ranchmen at so much per share. 

After sampling some fine navel oranges, some of 
which were a foot in circumference and of unexcelled 
flavor, I duly acknowledged the hospitality of my curi- 
ous host, and departed with distended pockets and 
swelling emotions. Before reaching town, however, 
I had a slight set-back, being encountered by a number 
of plausible chaps, who were very desirous to show 
me where I could make a rap and scoop in a thousand 
dollars in less than two months without lifting a shovel. 

There are several hundred real estate agents in and 
around Los Angeles. They are not only numerous, 
but also persuasive, plausible and hard to dodge. 
AVorst of all, you may as well try to persuade the 
moon to irrigate the soil as to attempt to persuade 
these fellows that you are not out here to invest. You 
may point to your old clothes, turn your pockets 
wrong side out and swear by the precession of the 
equinoxes that there isn't a dollar in the whole macro- 
cosm that you can call your own, and yet they persist 
until you are almost persuaded that you have some- 
thing hid away somewhere that you had overlooked. 

A few days ago there was an excursion to San 



36 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

Diego in the interest of land owners. Your obedient 
servant was there. He had hardly struck Coronado 
Beach, however, when a naive land agent approached, 
with an oleaginous grin as broad as the smile of a 
beluga, and insisted in foreign accents upon selling 

a lot. 

" No lots to-day, sir," I replied. 

" To-morrow — you — buy — lot? " 

"No, sir; haven't anything to invest." 

"But — you — liav — so7ne — monie," continued the 
pressing foreigner in measured syllables, " an' — when 
— you — see — ze — lot, — you — buy. " 

" No, sir, I haven't money enough to live decent. 
See what old clothes I wear." 

" Oh, zat be comeek; ze cloze all right; where you 
stop?" 

" Over at the New Carlton, but I haven't paid my 

bill yet." 

"Oh! oh! ze hotel all right, ze cloze all right, ze 

monie all right; you buy one lot, you like it — fine! 

splendeed ! " 

" How much do you ask for your lots, anyway? " 
" Moseer — genteelmo', I sell you one large lot for 

seven hundred dollars." 

"Will you trust? How many onions can I raise 

off from it?" 

"Onions? Oh! You raise no onions — " 

"But if I buy the lot I should want to go to work 

on it and get a living. Couldn't I settle down to 

hard labor, go without pie, and in a few years pay for 

it by raising hogs or something of that sort? How 



SOUTHEKN CALIFOliNIA. 



37 




PRESENTING hIS CAUSE 



large is the lot anyway — all I see here, probably — 
the whole island, isn't it?" 

" Lor'- heving ! No, no, no! Fourteen hundred 
lots here. You have twenty-five feet front for seven 



I 



38 • GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

hundred dollar, an' you keep it two year an' you sell 
him fer two thousand dollar." 

"Well! if that's so, I'll buy the lot." 

" All right, moseer, I come to ze hotel to-morra, 
an' we go an' see ze lot, an' I sell him cheap, an' you 
make lot monie, ain't it?" 

" Well, I'll see you round here to-morrow, per- 
haps." 

" No, no, no. I go to ze hotel an' fine you, moseer, 
an' we come over togezer — ain't it?" 

" No, you better not go there ; you might not 
find me." 

"Yes! yes ! I be zair. I fine you. I sell ze lot 
cheap, you make monie, you get rich quick — don't it?" 

They say, " there's a tide in the affairs of men, 
which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune," but the 
next day I happened to be two hundred miles away 
and consequently out one thousand three hundred 
dollars. I must confess, however, I prefer on the 
whole, the direct methods of the San Diegoan 
just described to the periphrastic ones adopted by the 
American agents. The latter give you more queen's 
English, but the arguments advanced are the same, and 
I imagine a buyer would feel that he were paying for 
less poetry in the former instance. A man who earns 
his money by the sweat of his brow can scarcely afford 
to pay five or ten hundred dollars extra for a piece of 
property just to hear about the Elysian fields and the 
gardens of the Hesperides. Sometimes an agent will 
work himself up to the following: 



SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 39 

*' This is the land where the lemon trees bloom, 

Where the gold orange glows in the green thicket's gloom, 
Where the wind ever soft from the blue heaven blows, 
And groves are of myrtle and orange and rose." 

When such an effusion as the above is let off during 
a sale it is estimated that the buyer pays at least- a 
thousand dollars for the effusion. Now you see this is 
too much when the complete works of Goethe can be 
had for a dollar. People who come here to invest, 
should insist upon buying the land without the poetry. 
More land and less poetry is the great demand of the 
times. 

Yesterday I stepped into a certain real estate office 
and enquired about the healthf ulness of the San Gabriel 
Valley. Rising to his feet and suddenly warming 
up to the subject, the broker replied with much 
enthusiasm : 

" There is not another place in Southern California 
so favored as this San Gabriel Valley. I have now a 
number of fine lots in that quarter on my list. I was 
up there only last week and I was simply astonished at 
the beauty and promise of this valley. You see the 
Sierra Madres (pointing to the map) here extend 
almost due east and west, thus averting all adverse in- 
fluences from the north. The soil, too, is porous and 
warm, and the water comes direct from the mountains, 
pure and refreshing. The foot hills slope gently to 
the south ; there are no fogs ; the air is dry and brac- 
ing, and the whole valley is bathed in perpetual sun- 
shine. There is not a brighter nor fairer place in the 
whole universe." 



40 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

" Is that SO ? " 

" Yes, sir ; and no better soil can be found. The 
whole valley is in a high state of cultivation. The San 
Gabriel Valley railroad actually runs through miles of 
orange orchards. Here are hundreds, yes thousands, 
of acres of the choicest land on earth. For miles the 
dark, rich foliage of fruit-burdened trees, interspersed 
with thriving vineyards, form a continuous fruit para- 
dise, only interrupted by lovely cottages, exquisite 
floral lawns and princely courts. There are miles of 
avenues lined with lime and cypress hedges, or 
bordered by the stately eucalyptus. This whole tract, 
clear up to Pasadena and beyond, is one vast garden 
of tropical beauty and luxuriance." 

" Is that possible ? " 

" Yes, sir ; and the very air is laden with the aroma 
of these fruitful orchards and blooming gardens, while 
exhilarating sea-breezes are wafted over these sunny 
slopes freighted with eternal life." 

" I want to know ! " 

" Yes, sir ; and think of the scenery ! If you want 
to see scenery unparalleled, just get on top of the 
Raymond and take in the country. On the north the 
hills rise one above another until, towering six or 
seven thousand feet, they form the massive Sierras 
with their pine- clad slopes and picturesque canons. 
Higher and higher they rise until, merging into ' Old 
Baldy ' and Grayback, they reach the dizzy heights of 
ten and twelve thousand feet and lose their hoary heads 
in Paradise." 

" Is this all in the San Gabriel valley ? " 







SCENES IN THE SAN GABRIEL VALLEY. 



42 GEAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

"Yes, sir; all in the San Gabriel valley, and the 

half has not been told at that. The scenery I spoke 

of is all on the north. In the opposite direction the 

San Clemente and Cataline islands rise up out of the 

ocean, standing bold and bare against the distant sky, 

and overlook the broad expanse of the Pacific like 

colossal giants — 'sentinels of the mighty deep.' 

Why ? Bryant alluded to this valley when he spoke 

of — 

******* "'The hills, 
Rock-ribbed and ancient as the sun — the vales 
Stretching in pensive quietness between ; 
* * * And poured round all, 
Old ocean's gray and melancholy waste.' 

" I tell you a man can't live in this valley I am 
talking about without becoming a poet. These orchards 
of Hesperides, Elysian fields and Gardens of the 
Gods — 

" ' Where the gold orange glows in the green thicket's gloom — ' " 

"Hold on! stranger, hold on!" I interrupted, 
" every place I have been to yet on this coast I have 
been told is the place 

" ' Where the gold orange glows in the green thicket's gloom.' 

Now, I want to know if the oranges do this all over 
this country, or have these other fellows been lying 
tome?" 

My friend, I am intensely in earnest in this mat- 
ter," rejoined the broker, "and if you want a lot in 
this San Gabriel Valley I will sell you one that you 
can double your money on in less than three months." 



SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 



43 



" Oil! I have no idea of buying a lot; all I cared to 
know about this valley for was, I sent my mother-in- 
law up there last week. I guess I'll send and have her 
come back. By the way, don't you know of some place 
around here that isn't quite so healthy — one, for in- 
stance, where an elderly lady with an extra allowance 
of vim and aggressiveness would find it ' nip and tuck ' 
to pull through another winter?" 

Hereupon the eloquent broker's larynx came to a 
dead set and both parties to a better understanding. 




CHAPTEE III. 

IN PURSUIT OF GAME. 

From the time the versatile Nimrod founded the 
Assyrian Empire and the reckless Esau bartered his 
birthright for a bowl of soup, hunting appears in his- 
tory as the favorite diversion both of gods and men 
Whether this proclivity of the race be wisely or un- 
wisely entertained is little to the purpose. There is a 
fascination about pursuing a timid quadruped through 
orchard and meadow to his home in the underbrush 
that is peculiar if not unaccountable. The tendency 
exists and the fascination is attested by the sporting 
public throughout the world. The man who recalci- 
trates upon being asked to bring in an armful of wood, 
cheerfully consents to ford rivers and climb mountains 
to bag a partridge that can be bought for a quarter. 
I have known men who could earn ten dollars per day 
in their profession to hunt coyotes and prairie dogs at 
less than ten cents per week. Confronted with such 
significant facts and phenomena as these, how useless 
it is to deny the love of adventure a place among the 
implanted principles, or moralize upon the folly of 
wasting golden opportunities of becoming President 
in the pursuit of quails and "cotton-tails! 

Actuated by this innate thirst for adventure common 
to the race, the writer, joined by the late private sec- 
retary of one of New York's leading public men, has 

44 



IN PURSUIT OF GAME. 45 

been making periodic invasions among the wild 
animals of this country. Securing at the outset a 
Colt's lightning repeater and an approved breech-load- 
ing shot-gun, we prepared to entertain all comestible 
flesh with magnificent fireworks. Going to a real es- 
tate agent in Los Angeles, we diligently inquired for 
the hunting paradise of which we had read. In reply 
we were promptly informed of a place not far away 
where a novice in the business could sit on a stump 
and kill forty jack-rabbits an hour. At that time we 
were not very well read in the fine art of selling city 
lots ten miles out of town. Besides there is an ingen- 
uous credulity about an amateur sport that drinks in 
with fabulous avidity any statement which tends to 
increase the stock of slaughterable fauna incident to a 
new locality. Hence the representations of the real 
estate agent were not questioned. Any way we could 
view the subject, this direction seemed to offer special 
inducements. For one like myself who had at that 
time a sort of leaning toward honor and future reward, 
there loomed up the gilded circumstance that jack- 
rabbit squelchers are more esteemed in this country 
than oak planters. Irving said: "He who plants an 
oak plants for posterity,'' but he ought to have added 
that he who kills a jack-rabbit blesses both present and 
future generations — and thus have made himself im- 
mortal. On the other hand the tourist, like my part- 
ner, who had been fed on jack-rabbits at 75 cents per 
meal at the railway eating stations this side of the 
Rockies, might well view the pursuit of these tender 
fibered rodents from a pecuniaru standpoint. On the 



46 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

basis of seventy five cents a rabbit and forty rabbits an 
hour, the secretary saw money in the business. Decid- 
ing, therefore, to carry out the real estate agent's in- 
structions, we secured a rig and started out for the 
proposed field of operation. In the Avay the monetary 
considerations of the enterprise evidently preyed upon 
the mind of my associate, for all at once, after a long 
and ominous silence, his countenance lighted up with 
the inspiration that heralds the solution of a momentous 
problem, and he observed: 

"Do you know what you are about, comrade? We 
are approaching a region abounding in game. AVe are 
here on expense, and why waste our ammunition ? Why 
not make our amusement a source of income? Now 
what I propose is this: Let us go to the various mar- 
kets in the city and contract our game. It may not 
have occurred to you, chum, but there's monev in this 
business, rightly conducted." 

" But suppose we should make contracts and not be 
able to fill them," I replied. 

" Not fill our contracts? Why! you blockhead, we 
don't need to take orders for more than we can supply. 
We know sure, from what the real estate man told us, 
that we can each kill forty rabbits an hour. If we are 
gone four hours, that will be one hundred and sixty 
rabbits apiece, or three hundred and twenty to deliver 
in all. Now I propose that we go back to the city markets 
and contract three hundred rabbits by sundown. That 
will give us twenty to fall through on, and if by any 
possible mischance we should not happen to get quite 



IN PURSUIT OF GAME. 



47 



enough this forenoon we will run out a little while after 
dinner, near town, and make up the number." 

" But," I interposed, " three hundred rabbits will 
be quite a load, and how are we going to handle 
them ? " 




'v/ Ar,«--»iw»''v/>tyr *^//))y*'^r'»(f'/r/^<-y<^'^''!*-^ -'^'■''V'''*'^*''^^ 



Mamillaria Elephantidens. 





Mamillari- Macromeris. Echmocactus Orcutti. 

TO BE HANDLED WITH CARE. 



"Why! you addle-pated loon, can't you see beyond 
your eye-winkers ? We shall have to go to the livery 
stable, of course, make arrangements for a rig, with 
high sideboards on a double wagon, and have them 
carried direct from the field to the market. An enter- 



48 GKAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

prise like this can't be carried on with wind. I expect 
there will be some outlay, but where we spend one, 
dollar we'll make ten. It's a good thing to know some- 
thing when a man is three thousand miles from home." 

These observations being rather emphatic, and 
fearing my partner might get to being personal, I 
thought best not to press my objections. After spend- 
ing some time in these deliberations, however, we 
found it was getting time to do something and so pro- 
ceeded without returning to the city to make the pro- 
posed contracts. We concluded that we could this time 
pile our game in heaps and haul it to market in the 
afternoon. 

Advancing along a broken wagon road through 
thickets of cactus, chamisal and greecewood, Ave suc- 
ceeded at last in reaching the sportsman's paradise so 
big with promise — not, however, without encounter- 
ing a number of difficulties in the way. One of these 
was a river, which at that time was swollen from melt- 
ing snows on the mountains. In crossing this we per- 
formed several daring feats of equestrianism in which 
conveyance, steed and sports all barely escaped an 
aqueous inhumation. We now dismounted, tethered 
our beast and made for suitable stumps from which, as 
the base of our operations, we at once inaugurated hos- 
tilities with all marketable game — but especially the 
wily, mischief-making rodents that promised such 
flattering returns to both skill and labor. With eyes, 
ears and guns cocked, we boldly awaited our victims. 
Now and then a stray rabbit would leap out from the 
thicket and instantly disappear. We had confidently 



liN PUKSUIT OF GAME. 49 

believed that we should make the surrounding country, 
for at least a radius of half a mil 3, an uninterrupted 
field of slaughter — a scene of carnage — an aceldama 
of broken bones, a sort of open-air packing house, 
from which cargoes of muscle-making pabulum would 
be shipped to the markets of the state. But 

" Oft expectation fails, and most oft there 

Where most it promises." 
" The sweets we wish for turn to loathed sours, 

Even in the moment we call them ours." 

We watched and waited in good faith, but somehow 
the rabbits didn't live up to their appointments. Time 
flew rapidly on. The forenoon was fast wearing away ; 
our forefingers were in suspense and our fore-tops in 
painful anxiety. The secretary, indeed, writhed in 
mortal restlessness; he couldn't understand the situ- 
ation ; his three hundred jack rabbits didn't show up 
— his estimates didn't realize. Changing tactics, re- 
pairing to other stumps, lying in ambush, skirmishing 
about in jungles and arroyos, were all in vain. At last, 
in our desperation, we threw up the white flag to these 
skulking denizens of the day and retreated from the 
field. I now had a pressing inspiration to call the at- 
tention of my comrade to the superior judgment which 
I had evinced in opposing heavy contracts on an uncer- 
tainty ; but, by a strong effort of the will I controlled 
these impulses and repressed the inspiration. Events 
Avhich followed proved my wisdom in so doing. For 
before sun-down my partner's feelings had reached a 
state of maturity, which, were it not for a timely 
interposition, would have culminated tragically. The 

4 



50 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

circumstance is this : A friend of ours at the hotel, 
while talking to another about the school building at 
Los Angeles, inadvertently used the word "contract," 
in the course of his conversation. My partner did 
not seem to catch the connection, and proceeded at 
once to make a personal assault upon the supposed of- 
fender. With flushed face and jugular vein distended 
in rage, he throttled his undeserving victim and 
threatened his equilibrium before I had time to inter- 
cede ; nor did the disturbance entirely subside until I 
had carefully explained, and fully assured the secre- 
tary that the gentleman referred to a building contract, 
and was making no allusion whatever to our rabbit 
enterprise. 

Right here, in justice to my partner, I will say, I 
have found him, on the whole, docile, good-humored 
and easily pleased. There appears, in fact, only this 
one subject upon which he seems to be especially 
sensitive, and I therefore respectfully caution the pub- 
lic against the danger of ever using, in his hearing, in 
any ambiguous or equivocal sense, the word contract. 
To be actually safe, better not use the word at all or 
, any word that might be mistaken for it. For this 
reason the word compact is objectionable, and there is 
no absolute security except in the use of such terms as 
" covenant," " written or parol stipulation," " mutually- 
concurred-in arrangements," or something similar. 
The word contract is positively hazardous. 

The following day we were joined in our recreations 
by two other would-be sports — the one a capitalist 
from Ohio, who is here speculating in real estate, the 



IN PURSUIT OF GAME. 



51 




MISTAKING HIS INTENT 



other a Chicago commission merchant. These were 
very anxious to learn the use of fire-arms, and so we 
admitted them into our circle, which was thereupon 
designated the " Consolidated New York, Ohio and 



52 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

Illinois Amateur Sporting Confederation." This name 
seemed to promise the institution a permanent exist- 
ence ; but like others of its kind it proved short-lived 
— lasting indeed, but a single day. The circumstances 
which brought about its dissolution are of a peculiar 
character, and I hereby propose to fearlessly show up 
the inside history of this remarkable organization, 
which is briefly this : 

The Ohio and Illinois members of the league, hob- 
nobbing with the " contract " division of its New York 
constituents (the secretary), secured a defunct jack 
rabbit (which they probably purchased at the market), 
and secretly tied him up to a short stake, in the same 
standing attitude which is assumed in the chase. They 
then succeeded, by a series of cunningly contrived 
expedients, in decoying your humble servant to the 
scene of action. The expression of ecstacy which 
came over my deluded physiognomy, as I beheld the 
alluring rodent, erect upon his haunches, challenging 
my skill, was, doubtless, ineffable. I fell to my knees 
to escape observation, took aim, and blazed away. The 
rabbit didn't move. Another bang, and the beast still 
stood erect. " I'll swallow my gun if that animal isn't 
deaf as a stone wall," I observed, and let fly another 
dose of civilization, but still he lived. " I'll either 
kill or wake up that totally depraved harlequin of 
impudence, if I fight it out on this line all summer," 
I continued, and crash went another cartridge. But 
the dumb beast still held his ground. Click! flash! 
clash ! flew another slug. Volley after volley followed, 
but brazen-faced jack only stared with a sort of incor- 



IN PURSUIT OF GAME. 53 

rigible grin, which said, "Crack away; I'm not afraid 
of your popgun." More and more incensed by this 
defiant attitude, I continued the fusilade, pouring the 
slirapnel into his obstinate head and stifP-necked back 
with unrelenting perseverance. But all efforts to 
reclaim the felonious offspring of shameless effront- 
ery seemed in vain. Having now exhausted all my 
ammunition, I rushed upon my plucky antagonist and 
was about to break down his back with the stock of my 
gun, when I discovered that he was securely strapped 
to a stake. My chagrin was indeed beyond the power 
of computation, but I resolutely determined to main- 
tain my dignity and keep my allies in blank ignorance 
of the antics which I had performed while being prac- 
ticed upon by this reprehensible species of charlatanry. 
But what was my surprise, upon turning around, to 
discover my comrade, the Ohio capitalist and the Chi- 
cago boodler, gesticulating in the tall grass close by, in 
hilarious and jubilant convulsions. I should have, 
doubtless, opened fire upon them all had I not wasted 
my ammunition on the rabbit. As it was, being de- 
fenseless, while they were armed, I held my peace. 
My only redress seemed to be to withdraAv from the 
order with which I had so unfortunately become asso- 
ciated. So I withdrew. The other members said they 
would like to withdraw also, and thereupon the C. N. 
Y. O. and I. A. S. C. was dissolved. But this did not 
completely solve the difficulty, for, when we reached 
the hotel, my hunting operations were carefully 
reviewed and publicly commented upon. Of course 
it didn't answer to show out any atrabilarious emotion 



54 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

ill company, while to make a personal assault upon my 
defamers, after tlie manner of the secretary, was not 
in keeping with the moral character which I had thus 
far sustained. But if an unprincipled crew of scribes, 
land - sharks and boodlers ever again conspire to 
fraudulently inveigle me by another such imposture as 
this, neither decorum, reputation nor family antece- 
dents will stay the hand of wrath or rob the scales of 
retributive justice. Those who sow the wind must 
expect to reap the whirlwind. 

The following day was the Sabbath. Not feeling 
exactly comfortable at the hotel, and having a sort of 
secret premonition that something would be said in 
the sermon about jack-rabbits, I arose early and spent 
the day in deep meditation far up the Sawpit canon 
of the Sierra Madres. In this remote fastness of the 
mountains I encountered a venomous rattlesnake. The 
fearful reptile gave the usual signal of danger by 
shaking his ill-boding rattles until the air was filled 
with an ominous whirr like that of swarming locusts. 
For a few seconds things were generally active. Two 
rifle-balls, one through the back and the other in the 
head, soon settled the question, however, and I passed 
on " like other conquerors, to muse upon the fearful 
ruin I had wrought." 

Now I know that the veracity of this adventure 
will be questioned since there was no one along to 
witness the transaction. But I stand ready to swear 
by the perturbations of Jupiter, the sun's parallax and 
all the stars, clusters and nebulous aggregations that 
will parade tlie welkin for the next twelve months, 



IN PURSUIT OF GAME. 



55 







IRRECLAIMABLE. 



that I did actually encounter, in mortal combat, just 
such a fateful monster in the ragged wilds of the Si- 
erras. In addition to this sworn statement, I can show 
the rear appendage of the reptile in proof, and indeed 
did show it to my perfidious friends at the hotel. 



56 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

Tlioy, as might be expected, contested my title to the 
distinction I claimed, and declared I had found the ev- 
idence of my alleged achievement somewhere in the 
way, or else bribed the dealer in curiosities to open 
his shop on Sunday. Now, I don't like to call on any 
more of the celestial luminaries, but if worst comes to 
worst, I will go on and summon the whole cosmogony 
to bear witness to the truth of this adventure. I have 
been argued out of several of my favorite adventures 
already, and am not going to be talked out of this one 
if I have to sit up nights to defend it. 

Since coming to this country, .many Eastern friends 
have made personal inquiries of me concerning the 
game to be found in Southern California. I meant to 
have got at this part of the subject before this, but the 
foregoing prelude seemed necessary to show up the im- 
pressive rites and ceremonies by which the novitiate is 
admitted into the mystic arcana of this exciting field of 
activity. 

Besides the Eastern tourist himself, we have here 
in the way of game, notably the deer, jackass and cot- 
ton-tail rabbits, California plumed and mountain 
quails; and in the vicinity of the ocean and inland 
lakes, large quantities of geese and ducks. The larger 
game, such as the grizzly, black and cinnamon bear, 
formerly common in all the mountain ranges of Cali- 
fornia, are now so retired to the inaccessible portions 
of the Sierras that few efforts are made to hunt them 
out. In this southern region they are practically ex- 
tinct. Not very long ago, however, a large grizzly 
was seen a few rods back of this hotel, walking off 



IN PURSUIT OF GAME. 57 

with a bee-hive under his arm toward the mountains. 
Mountain sheep or big-horn are getting very scarce, 
although it is rumored that a herd of considerable size 
rove about in the region of perpetual snow on the 
summit of " Old Baldy," one of the highest peaks of 
the Sierra Madres. Deer are occasionally taken in 
this part of the State, but more often further north. 
Occasionally the sportsman has the good fortune to 
find, in his wanderings, the locked antlers of the deer. 
These are considered nearly as great a triumph as to 
gather in the "bounding roebuck." 

At certain seasons of the year the bucks engage in 
fearful combats, in which the horns spring and become 
inseparably interlaced. Once joined in this mysteri- 
ous manner, the late bitter foes spend their remaining 
days in peace together — -at least until one of them 
dies — when the other, gradually disenthralled from 
the spell which binds him to his mate in this strange 
alliance, shakes off the decomposing body of his part- 
ner and again is free. The antlers of his antagonist, 
however, are borne aloft, telling the tale of a battle 
both lost and won. An old hunter at this place gives 
an account of another curious phenomenon similar to 
this. A party of his acquaintance saw a buck bound- 
ing through the forest with a sort of globe attached to 
his antlers. Upon killing the animal the curious ob- 
ject proved to be a human skull — the remnant of a 
luckless adventurer who had fallen prey to one of his 
merciless blows. 

Feathered game abounds in this region. When at 
San Diego I saw thousands of water birds, such as 



58 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

Canada geese (called here honkers) ; speckled-breasted, 
white-billed, brown and China brants; mallard and 
canvas-back ducks, besides spoonbills, teals, blue-bills 
and red-heads in great number. As we passed Elsi- 
nore lake the shore was literally lined with this class 
of game. I have seen flocks of geese over a mile in 
length passing over this valley, preparing to make raids 
upon the wheat fields further north. The albatros, 
cormorant, pelican and sea-gull haunt the seashore. 

But by far the most distinctively gamey of all Cali- 
fornia's fauna, worthy of the chase, is the plumed quail 
and the wily jack-rabbit. The California plumed quail 
is very plentiful in this country, and no fancy price is 
served up with quail on toast. Yet one needs to be 
alert to be successful in hunting the quail. These 
birds run along the ground inviting pursuit — seeming 
to know the exact range of your fowling piece. When 
this limit is reached they take to the air, and this is 
the time to take ihem — on the wing. The mountain 
quail is somewhat larger, but unsuspecting, and easily 
captured. I was once deluded into shooting one of 
these, supposing them to be like the rest of the quail 
tribe — able to take care of themselves. 

Concerning the jack-rabbit there seems to be a pre- 
vailing misconception. Among unlettered races few 
have been more shamefully misrepresented. He is 
not the indiscreet, silly fellow supposed, and the sports- 
man who pursues him on regulation principles soon 
finds it out. Give him a respectable showing and he 
soon convinces you that he is anything but a non com- 
pos mentis. An animal that will run, dodge, walk on 




^y^ 



CALIFORNIA VULTURE. 

Mext to the largest flying bird in tiie world,- four feet high, spread of wings ten to 

twelve feet, — nearly extinct. 



60 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

tiptoes, crawl on his belly, skulk, hide, hobble as if 
wounded, and then, at a second's notice, shoot like a 
pencil of light across sward and fallow, is no freshman 
at the business. The most approved method of taking 
this game seems to be, as in hunting the quail, " on 
the fly," with a shot gun. The moment they appear, 
even if at considerable distance, is the appointed time. 
Once under headway they are lost and that without 
remedy. Shooting from the carriage is contrary to 
all ideas of decorum; for, becoming accustomed to the 
sight of moving vehicles, they continue to crop the 
cabbage leaf, gnaw the sapling or stare with indiffer- 
ence, and thus become an easy prey. The devout 
sportsman disdains to take any mean advantage of the 
unsuspecting rodent and no more thinks of firing upon 
him on such occasions, than he would think of dunning 
a friend at an evening party or firing on a flag ot truce. 
Honor bright! in all things, as well in killing jacks as in 
trading mules. 

But by far the most exciting, as well as exhilarat- 
ing, mode of pursuit is that with horse and grey- 
hound. Mounted on a fast-flying steed and attended 
by one or more of these light-legged coursers, the 
pursuer has about an equal chance with the pursued. 
There are sporting clubs at Pasadena, Los Angeles 
and all the principal towns of Southern California. 
Coursing is a favorite diversion of these organizations, 
and both ladies and gents participate. California has 
the finest dogs and horses on the continent, and in the 
pursuit of these long-eared, light-footed, mischief- 
making elfs of the soil, many a high mettle is put to 



IN PURSUIT OF GAME. 



61 



the test. The tramp of beating hoofs, the incessant 
baying of hounds and blowing of horns create a scene 
of wild excitement and fun without limit. But this is 
not all. " Good digestion waits on appetite, and 
health on both." Dyspepsia forgets to practice on 
you, melancholy abandons his trade and gout looks up 
another job. The farmer, too, pleased with your oper- 
ations, invites you to his pomes, and says: " God 
bless the sport." 




--^<. 









CHAPTEK IV. 

CLIMBING THE SIERRA MADRES. 

The writer having been invited to join a select party 
in the ascent of Mount Wilson, and this invitation 
promising temporary relief from my friends, who 
seemed to have no interest in discussing any subject 
but obstinate jacks, was gracefully accepted. At an 
early hour, the following morning, all were ready for 
the much-anticipated trip. The elements composing 
this mountain-climbing battalion were six in number — 
a gentleman from England, his wife, two other ladies, 
the son of a Wisconsin millionaire and the writer. At 
first 1 was considerably puzzled to understand why 
such small potatoes as myself and the Wisconsin chap 
should have been let into this select circle in such a 
royal expedition; but before the journey was completed 
this mystery was cleared up. It appears that this son 
of the " wild-rushing channel " State had made the 
trip before, and was therefore a "very convenient ac- 
cessory to act as guide to the rest of the party. As 
for myself, there were perhaps other reasons, but as 
yet I have been able to discover but one, and that will 
shortly appear. 

Scarcely had Aurora mounted her chariot in the 

East when the chosen six mounted their talaho and 

dashed away over the plains of the San Gabriel to meet 

her. But we seemed to make the best time, and be- 

62 



CLIMBING THE SIEREA MADRES. 63 

fore the " rosy-fingered daughter of the dawn "had 
brushed away the ocean mists, our feet were planted 
on the trail and the great feat of pedestrianism fairly 
inaugurated. The turn-out, which brought us to the 
foot of the mountains, returned to the nearest hostelry 
while its freight of human souls went marching on up 
the steeps. 

In order that the magnitude of this undertaking 
may be more full appreciated, it should be explained 
that Mount Wilson is seven thousand feet hio:h and its 
summit only accessible by means of a narrow footpath 
between seven and eiofht miles lon^r. The ascent in 

CD c_y 

many places is very precipitous, and here and there 
the tourist passes along the edge of precipices from 
five hundred to perhaps one thousand feet deep. Yery 
few people have the courage to undertake the journey 
and still fewer ever succeed in reaching the summit. 
With walking sticks in hand we started out at the 
moderate pace of about one and a quarter miles per 
hour to make the venturesome jaunt^flagon and snack 
being strapped to the back of our high-born guide. 
At this juncture the writer's mission also became ap- 
parent. The lordly English gent committed his wife 
to my care and guidance, and pushed on without cere- 
mony toward the summit. Of course I could not enter 
protest against this procedure. In fact I had no time. 
The shuffle was made so adroitly and with so little 
formality that I did not fairly wake up to the situation 
until my friend (?) was out of sight and then it was 
too late. I concluded, therefore, to accept the inevit- 
able as gracefully as I had accepted the optional in 




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CLIMBING THE SIERRA MADRES. 65 

joining the party, and be as gallant and good-natured 
as though I had not the thought of being made a vic- 
tim to drudgery. But as we moved on at a moderate 
gait, slowly surmounting the " rocky steep," I chafed 
to push forward and make faster progress ; but what 
with the incumbrance of my fair female attendants;' 
what with the increasing heat of the sun and the in- 
disposition of our guide, time rapidly flew, but space 
seemed practically at a standstill. I became restless 
and began to feel the weight of the burden on my 
hands. Not that any fault could be found with the 
company — for this was select. The Englishman's wife, 
indeed, was a most charming and estimable young lady, 
graced with those ornaments of heart and intellect 
which form the true glory of woman. She had traveled 
around the world, was communicative, and imparted 
much valuable information about countries I had never 
visited. But what of that ? These amenities, devoutly 
to be coveted as they are on ordinary occasions, are 
nothing to the purpose, when, burning in the bosom, 
is the all-controlling ambition to reach the top of a 
mountain. But it was of no use to protest. We pushed 
on as best we could, gradually increasing our speed, 
urged at intervals by the censorious voice of our rene- 
gade comrade far above us. 

After a persevering climb of about two hours and a 
half we succeeded in reaching the " half-way house," 
where a snow-fed stream of rejuvenating liquid 
greeted our famished labials. Here, too, was a hut 
and a few household utensils — remnants of the per- 
sonality of a hermit who lived here many years ago, 
5 



66 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

The dwelling is surrounded by an orchard made up of 
various kinds of fruit, presenting on the whole an ad- 
mirable picture for the pen of the romancer. After 
resting awhile in the mystic shade of this ancient re- 
cluse, wondering the while how the stove, which still 
remained, could have been transported up the moun- 
tain which no vehicle could traverse, Ave resumed the 
march. There were still about three miles and a half 
of toilsome climbing before us. But the limpid stream, 
cool and refreshing, and the means for rest at the old 
hermitage, had somehow placed the company on a new 
footinof and we advanced a mile or more with renewed 
energy and courage. 

But ho ! what's this ? Alas ! a slide, or sort of 
quicksand in the trail ! Who will venture to cross 
this ? Just to one side is a deep precipice. Should 
our footing fail we would plunge down forty rods or 
more among the rocks into irretrievable destruction. 
Who will venture ? We all stood aghast. One of the 
ladies suggests that as Mr. H. had gone over she 
thought we would be safe in attempting to cross. Mrs. 
H. suggests that her husband's getting over safely 
was no criterion for us, there being no danger of his 
getting killed until he had reformed. After some de- 
liberation, however, we ventured, and, by clinging to 
shrubs and roots that projected over the trail, we suc- 
ceeded in passing this formidable barrier to our pro- 
gress. 

For two hours we pushed onward and upward with 
good grit, all tlie time stimulated to persist by the con- 
stant delusion that we are within a few rods of the 



CLIMBING THE SIERRA MADRES. 67 

summit. But like tlie feast prepared for Ixion in 
Tartarus, this summit continually evaded our covetous 
grasp just as we were about to revel in its promised 
delights. It was like ascending a winding staircase or 
climbing on the thread of an Archimedes screw — lots 
of distance, little progress. However, at about one 
o'clock p. m. we reached a summit — but not the high- 
est one. "Isn't this provoking!" exclaims one of the 
ladies. AVe are all of one opinion on this point — - 
hence no discussion as to the sentiments severally en- 
tertained. 

There is another half mile or more to reach the 
highest peak of Mount Wilson. But the Wisconsin 
wing of the rear division is completely exhausted and 
the ladies likewise — no more mountain climbing for 
them. Eefreshments are therefore ordered and, with- 
out much deliberation, it is concluded to abandon the 
balance of the expedition. 

But far up in the heights above we hear the inces- 
sant calling of our advance guard. The sound comes 
to us so broken and indistinct that one of the ladies 
suggests that our deserter may be in trouble. Avail- 
ing myself of a certain inborn disposition to forgive, I 
voluntered to go tb his rescue. In view of his treason- 
able conduct in the morning I confess there were no 
special emotions of love spurring me on to this noble 
deed. But on general principles and in the interest of 
humanity I determined to inaugurate a sort of Sir 
John Franklin expedition to this frozen peak of the 
Sierra Madres, in search of the lost explorer. 

Loading up both internally and externally with 



CLIMBING THE SIERRA MADRES. 69 

suitable refresliments, and taking leave of my fair 
companions and the foot-sore and broken-winded son 
of fortune, I pushed off in search of the confidence 
man, following his foot-tracks in the snow. To fitly 
describe this part of the trip is not so easy a task. To 
say that it was laborious would be begging the ques- 
tion. To say that it was a herculean job is not definite. 
In ascending to the lower summit, we had encountered 
snow and ice, but there was this difference: The ice 
down there was cool and wet, dripping like a fresh fried 
doughnut, while here it was dry and cold. The snow, 
instead of being six inches deep, Avas all the way from 
-six feet to six fathoms. The snow, like the ice, was 
dry and hard. The incline was very steep, and in 
many places advancement was possible only by kick- 
inor the toe of the boot into the hard-crusted snow 
and climbing as on a ladder. But half the trials of 
this part of the trip have not been hinted. Many a 
time I threw myself down exhausted upon a project- 
ing rock or the baro snow itself, pufiing like a mouse 
in a vacuum. Many a time I resolved to abandon fur- 
ther operations and return to my friends below. But 
this seemed ignominious. At last, however, on reach- 
ing a point where the walls of the mountain rose very 
nearly perpendicularly, I resolved to go no further. 
At this crisis, reverberating among the pines, rang 
out more distinctly the voice of the excelsior man, 
urging me to come on. 

" Oh ! I'm all right down here," I answered, gasp- 
ing for breath. ''^ AVhat's the use in going higher? 
there is scenery enough here if a man doesn't Avant 



70 



GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 




THE LAST PULL. 



the earth ; all I'm after is to find out if you are 
alive." 

" Come on! " again echoed among the pines. " You 
are almost to the top — a few rods further and you will 
find it almost level for a quarter of a mile. 



CLIMBING THE SIERRA MADRES. 71 

*' All right," I replied, making a desperate effort to 
conceal my want of breath. " I'll come right along." 

So saying, I began by striking the toes of my 
boots into the sides of the peak as before, and, grasp- 
ing the branches of trees and shrubs that projected 
from the snow, I climbed on, panting all the while 
like a hounded roe-buck. Time and again I halted on 
some projecting rock — as often mustered new courage 
and pressed nobly on." My breathing utensils were 
now puffing and blowing like a blacksmith's bellows, 
and my heart thumping like a snare drum. But lo! 
as I clamber on among the pine trunks I espy the top 
close by. " Eureka ! " One more determined effort 
and I reach it. " Venio vinco I three cheers ! I've 
made it ! " A fourth aunt coming to stay all summer 
couldn't have been more jubilant than I was at that 
moment, as the gates of heaven literally swung wide 
open before me. 

Running along over the summit some fifty or sixty 
rods, I discover John Bull standing on a rock at the 
apex of the mountain, drinking in the scenery with 
commendable gusto. Extending his hand to help me 
on to the rock,, he exclaims, in wild wonder : 

" How, in the name of heaven, did you succeed in 
getting up here?" 

" How, in the name of Rhadamanthos, did you? " I 
retorted. 

" Why ! I'm used to such things, but I would 
have waofered the best horse on Baldwin's ranch that 
you -never would have got here." 

*' / never have got here? Great Gaul! if it hadn't 




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CLIMBING THE SIERRA MADRES. 73 

been for the women and other baggage, I would have 
been here hours ago. My only regret now is, that the 
mountain isn't higher." 

Hereupon I intercepted further comment by pro- 
ducing the oranges which distended my pockets and 
delivering them to my conceited rival. Receiving 
them with glowing hands, he surrounded them like 
legerdemain. To watch the poor, faint and famished 
mountain-sealer as he made these citrous globes "fade 
like a wreath of mist " before him, was enough to 
move the heart of a dinothere or make a trilobite sing 
the national ode. It was really worth the pains of the 
whole trip. I was, therefore, doubly paid for making 
the ascent, for it was also well worth the trip to stand 
there on the j^innacle of the grand old mountain and 
look out on the universe. 

What a panorama! For fifty miles, cities, towns 
and hamlets ; orchards, vineyards, highways and 
arroyos spread out below us in pigmy proportions. 
To the rear, nameless spurs and ridges of the Sierra 
Madres, covered with snow, roil away in the distance 
till lost in the northern sky. Deep, winding canons 
thread the mountains in various directions; valleys 
bloom with tropical luxuriance below, and the blue 
Pacific stretches away into the limitless ether, guarded 
here and there by rocky islands projecting abruptly 
from the midst of its peaceful waters. 

While drinking in the inspiration of these upper 
realms the descending sun warns us to hasten our 
downward career. We obey the injunction by bending 
Spanish bayonets (which grow on the heights) into 



74 GKAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

the form of V and ride down from one declivity to an- 
other like shooting stars. There is surely nothing in 
the category of amusement which compares with the 
transcendant fun of this style of locomotion. Tobog- 
gans and roller-coasters are simply nowhere. It's like 
getting astride the parabole of a comet and riding 
triumphantly through space. 

Joining the lower detachment of our party just in 
time to secure the remnants of a lunch basket, Vv^e as- 
sure our expectant friends that they have lost at least 
a solid year of real life and advise a hasty retreat. So 
gathering up our manzanita walking poles, we push 
downward through chamisal and snow into a milder 
clime. Soon emero-ino" from the res^ion of snow our 
senses are again regaled by the cheering sight of 
larkspurs and lupines, blooming by the way, and the 
aromatic breath of the valley rising from the mesas 
and foot-hills beneath us. We descend all the way 
with gratifying speed and reach the foot of the trail, 
where our coach is in readiness, just as the sun goes 
down. The hotel at which we stopped also very near- 
ly went down before we satisfied the cravings superin- 
duced by this excursion to the top of Mount Wilson. 
Were it not for the opportune arrival of a party of 
Boston dyspeptics, the institution would surely have 
collapsed. But it seems to be on a good footing now 
and the landlord looks encouraged. 




VIEW IN SAN ANTONIO CANON, ONTARIO, CAL. 



CHAPTER V. 

RAMBLES BY RAIL. 

The next day after a careful diagnosis of our 
anatomies we concurred in the verdict that traveling by 
rail was a more approved method of locomotion. En- 
tertaining these sentiments we separated — our English 
friends embarking for Honolulu, while the secretary, 
who, the day before, had refused to place his tendons 
in competition with those of the long-eared burro, 
joined the writer in making further explorations about 
the southern part of the state. 

These ramblings comprehended a visit to the old 
Mission at San Gabriel, a town, by the way, that 
poorly represents the average attractions of a Southern 
California villa. Here the white cottasres of Mexican 
tenants, glancing in the bright sunlight, their drowsy 
occupants, strolling listlessly about the verandas, and 
children lazily swinging upon gates, and hammocks, im- 
pressed us with the conviction that we had unmistak- 
ably struck a dead municipality. But fearing the com- 
ing tourist may imagine that such of the natives as are 
stretched out in defunct postures are also dead, it 
might be well to explain that they are only dead 
drunk. Apart from the Mission, there is little here 
that is edifying and other Missions on the Coast are 
quite as interesting. It is, in fact, their historical as- 
sociations that give them notoriety. After paying our 

76 




INSIDE AND OUTSIDE HEADERS. 



78 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

respects and fees to this antiquated relic of the padres, 
we availed ourselves of the first opportunity to get out 
of town. 

At Ontario, a few miles to the east, on the South- 
ern Pacific, such a strange contrast is presented that 
we were as much concerned about leaving as we had 
lately been in being laid off among the forbidding ex- 
hibitions of squalid San Gabriel. In the vicinity of 
this place, Ontario, there are a number of canons 
of remarkable beauty leading into the Sierra Madres. 
These the tourist should visit. Here, too is probably 
the finest eucalyptus avenue in Southern California. 
In its refreshing shade one enjoys a country drive 
along a thoroughfare possessing elements of beauty of 
which its rival Euclid can not boast. The mountain 
scenery between Ontario and Eiverside is probably 
also unrivaled in Southern California. Cucumonga, 
San Jacinto and Old Baldy (the latter two miles high) 
all lift their snowy coronets with royal dignity and the 
lesser peaks seem to vie with each other in vain efforts 
to scale the firmament. 

Pomona, the noted orange town, and San Bernar- 
dino, whose flowing artesian wells are visible from the 
railroad, are both on the line and the latter is much 
visited by people from abroad. 

At Eiverside the tourist wanders literally through 
miles of orange groves, and (if no dogs or vigilance 
committees intervene) he safely plucks from fragrant 
boughs large and luscious pendants of saporific gold. 

From this fruit and floral paradise we proceeded 
back to the coast, where we more sensibly detected the 



80 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

subtle sea breeze, distilling its vaporous tonic, and 
where we watched with emotion the huge porpoise 
rolling in the surf. But men and boys seemed also to 
enjoy the briny deep equally well Avitli the porpoise. 
A hot sea bath is another seaside luxury, especially to 
the invalid and those of delicate constitutions. The 
tonic effect of these ablutions is such that one really 
forgets his old-time prejudice against water. Even 
the man who took the worst cold of his life in his last 
bathing operation twenty-eigJit years ago, seems en- 
thusiastic over these briny recreations. 

The chief coast resorts of Southern California are, 
in order from the south, San Diego, Santa Monica, 
Santa Barbara and Monterey — all saints but one, and 
this has the distinction of a name that makes it Kinof's 
Mountain. All of them are full of interest, all have 
the usual seaside attractions — fine hotels, ample facil- 
ities for bathing, boating, yachting, and all the ordi- 
nary means of amusement and diversion. 

Monterey, the early capital of California, commonly 
classed as a Southern California town, is most conven- 
iently reached from San Francisco — the Southern Pa- 
cific having put on the fastest train of the State, 
reaching this noted resort, a distance of one hundred 
and twenty-five miles, in three and a half hours. The 
Del Monte Hotel near by has a world-wide reputa- 
tion. It is in the midst of beautiful parks, verdant 
lawns and floral gardens, everything being tropical and 
suggestive of affluence and beauty. It is easily reached 
from Monterey by an excellent macadamized road that 
passes through Pacific and Cypress Groves, by the 
old Mission and these j^laces. 



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82 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

Santa Cruz, tlie most freqiiented by San Francis- 
cans of any of the Pacific Coast towns, is also on 
Monterey Bay, but at the opposite end. Added to the 
usual seaside attractions are the noted redwoods near 
by, called the "big trees," one of which is three hun- 
dred feet high and sixty feet around, — thus approach- 
ing in magnitude the big trees proper. 

In the vicinity of these resorts in the mountains of 
the Coast Range nature has indeed been lavish with 
her arboreal attractions. Just as the farmer finds a 
depth and variety of soil unknown in the East, so here 
the botanist finds in his favorite field of study a 
wealth and diversity of vegetable growths unap- 
proached by any other State in the Union. 

The mossy, gnarled, tough-fibered Monterey cypress, 
growing upon rocks close by the sea, is one of the 
many interesting vegetable curiosities of this locality. 
It is in fact the only specimen of the kind known ex- 
cept one other at another point on the coast. 

In this region, also flourishes the eucalyptus, or 
Australian blue-gum, so universal in the settled por- 
tions of Southern California. This is a truly repre- 
sentative tree of the Pacific Slope. It grows so rap- 
idly that within the limits of half a dozen years, it be- 
comes a respectable shade-producer, acquiring a mag- 
nitude that strikingly suggests the rapid growth of a 
boom town. 

The madrona, or arbutus, is another remarkable 
specimen. Its bark is as smooth and clean cut as the 
persuasion of a land agent, and the tree has a grace of 
attitude and motion from the study of which an actress 
might profit. Yet with all its grace and beauty, it is 




SCENE IN THE COAST RANGE. 



84 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

not a pigmy in its kingdom, one specimen near San 
Francisco being twenty-three feet^ in circumference. 
The species often grows to the height of one hundred 
feet, throwing out in every direction its lithe and 
mystic branches laden with cream-tinted blossoms. 

But, while this whole region is replete with peculiar 
and noted representatives of the vegetable kingdom, 
fair and fascinating, it is the omnipresence of the 
various varieties of oak that most surprise the tourist 
from abroad. It would be in vain to attempt to cata- 
logue these, or give the reader an adequate idea of 
their propensity to assume shapes, postures and colo- 
cations that seem specially designed to please. I have 
seen lawns and parks and promenades laid out by 
nature and ornamented with these trees that would put 
to route the labored efforts of the cleverest arboricul- 
turist. 

Here too are to be seen pines almost as various and 
diverse as the ubiquitous oak, some of which are found 
growing at the water's edge. The pines of the Sierras 
however, outdo those of the Coast Range, and to these 
majestic dwellers of the heights, I shall have occasion 
to allude in connection with the Sequoias of the giant 
forests. 

The odoriferous laurel and aromatic nutmeg, in 
certain groves of this vicinity, are also to be found, 
makino: the tourist imao^ine that he is in the heart of 
the tropics instead of thirteen degrees over the line 
into the temperate zone. • 

Southern California, whether on the coast or in the 
cheerful valleys of the southern counties, must be con- 



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86 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

ceded many paradisaical characteristics, at least in 
winter. Allowing that there are months when every- 
thing appears parched and dry, that dusty roads and 
sandstorms do exist, that water is dear and prices of 
real estate scheduled in a way to puzzle and perplex, 
still there are the balm and sunshine, the fruits and 
flowers and halcyon days that can not, by the subtilties 
of logic be disrobed of their healthful charms. Every- 
where we find daily reminders of the luxuriant growth, 
the romantic scenery and the rapturous skies once so 
faithfully depicted by the lamented author of " Ram- 
ona." Here are the hills and mesas and mountains, 
the sands and arroyos, the canons and snow-fed crystal 
streams; here flourish not only the vine and fig tree, 
but also the lanceolate olive, the flowering almond, the 
orange and lemon, blending their green and gilt in 
pleasing tintsj and even the " golden pomegranates of 
Eden " decked in the rich caparison of scarlet blos- 
soms and blushing fruit. Here, too, in delightful 
villas and cheerful homes one catches unbidden the per- 
fume of geranium and rose, while stealing in upon the 
unguarded senses like an unseen spirit comes the 
ravishing breath of jasmine and stephanotis — all this 
when, in the chilly East, locked in ice and snow, 

" Coughing drowns the parson's saw, 
And Marion's nose looks red and raw." 

The coughins: is also to be found here, but this is 
largely imported. Long live the winters of Southern 
California. 



CHAPTEE VL 

INTO THE HEART OF THE SIERRAS. 

There is only one Yosemifce Yalley, and only one 
trip to this enchanted reserve ever made exactly 
after the fashion of the one in which the writer was 
implicated. 

My associates in this excursion among the Sierras 
were an Ohio real estate operator (who has lately re- 
moved to California), the private secretary of an emi- 
nent New York official, and a Chicago merchant. 
These, whom I have already alluded to, have constituted 
the dramatis personam in a number of successful ex- 
ploits here on the Pacific coast. Knowing, from com- 
mon report, that the wonders of the Yosemite are more 
or less overpowering in their nature, and reasoning 
that four would offer more resistance than one, it was 
only fair to suppose that the shock to our sensibilities 
would be proportionately lessened by being thus 
distributed over this increased amount of surface. 
If one couldn't stand it, four surely could. So we de- 
cided to form another league, forgetful of past ag- 
grievances. Organizing as the " California Mutual Pro- 
tective Alliance for Kesisting the Overpowering Effects 
of Wild Flourishes of Natural Scenery," we set out 
prepared for any emergency. Conscious of the newly- 
created powers with which we had become vested by 
our corporate name, we bade adieu to the " City of the 

87 



88 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

Queen of Angels," to which we had but recently re- 
turned from the coast, and the Southland to which we 
had become more or less endeared, and with good cour- 
age pushed northward by the Southern Pacific Railway 
through the cheerful San Fernando valley. Crossing 
the desolate Mojave desert near the dry lakes, where 
in the vegetable w^orld, juniper and bunch-grass, dwarf 
cedar, greecewood and the Yucca palm hold undisputed 
sway, we entered the Tehachepi mountains in high 
colors. Swinging around the famous "Loop," among 
chaparral-crowned hills and gypsum ridges, and wit- 
nessing the most wonderful feats of engineering in 
the State, we soon reached the great valley of the San 
Joaquin. 

Making short stop-offs at Bakersfield, the capital of 
Kern county, and Fresno, the center of the raisin- 
making industry, we gathered some useful informa- 
tion respecting the business interests and mode of life 
in these places. In our drives into the country we 
found something worthy of comment in the vast fields 
of alfalfa and grain, the thousands of sheep grazing 
on hillsides and "hog-wallows," and the sleek herds 
of horses and cattle roving on the plains. 

The ubiquitous jack-rabbit, too, is here — more 
abounding, in fact, than in the south — to the grief of 
the ranchman and hardly to the joy of the sportsman, 
since they are really too plenty to make the chase ex- 
citing. The inhabitants have resorted to various devices 
to exterminate this persistent race of mischief-makers, 
a common method being to steal upon them in an ox- 
cart bearing heavy musketry. While this mode is not 



90 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OP THE WEST. 

according to the golden rule, it is very effectual in 
weakening the ranks of these deluded lightfoots, who, 
shy of men, are on familiar terms with roving herds 
and moving vehicles. Formerly this method was much 
in vogue, the booty thus secured being shipped to the 
city markets. Rabbit drives are now more approved. 
By this plan neighborhoods turn out en masse and 
pursue the pests from all quarters of the horizon into 
a large corral built to receive them — the pursuers 
hemming them in and slaughtering them by the hun- 
dreds, or perhaps thousands. 

Leaving Fresno and vicinity we resumed our north- 
ward movements toward the point of departure for the 
Yosemite. This was an interesting ride through the 
San Joaquin, presenting, as it did, phases differing in 
important respects from anything yet seen. Every- 
thing seems to be numbered . by the thousand here. 
The ranches contain thousands of acres; sheep and 
cattle are herded by the thousand ; thousands of geese 
and rabbits and cranes prey upon the crops. But what 
engaged our interest most were the thousand snow-clad 
peaks of the Sierras, looming up before us with lordly 
airs and warning us of the mysteries on exhibition over 
beyond. 

At a small station some one hundred miles from the 
famous valley we disembarked and secured a livery, 
having decided upon this means of transit to secure 
greater freedom in our movements. Besides, the Ohio 
capitalist's southern real estate having taken a set-back 
during the past year or two, the rest of the party felt 
it to be an imperative duty to reprove his customary 



INTO THE HEART OF THE SIERRAS. 91 

extravagance and teach him a lesson in economy. To- 
this end we diligently inquired of the German hostler 
of whom we procured our conveyance, how much this 
trip would set us back financially. The attending 
stable boy having interpreted our interrogatories to 
" Cousin Michael " the latter responded in true Ger- 
man style: 

"Veil, I toldt you all aboudt how it vas. Wie lang 
bist du in dose Yosemitees? " 

" O, we want to be gone about ten days." 

" Veil. I vill tell you boudt dot. I make it sheap, 
genook. Ven you get pack I tole you all aboudt dot 
price." 

After insisting upon knowing the price before we 
started, " Mynheer Closli " finally yields to our demands 
and says: 

" I will make dose oxpenses sheap mit you — I 
scharge you noor foonf-sick tollars." 

Having about two hundred miles to drive among 
the hills and mountains we could not go amiss on this 
price and so without chaffering agreed to pay " Myn- 
heer " the fifty dollars for his best rig. The latter, 
pleased that the bargain was consummated, at this 
point threw in a little free advice with the evident pur- 
pose of giving us the full worth of our money. 

" I tole you sumdings vot safe you oxpenses undt I 
vill tole you dot mitoudt scharging nottings," con- 
tinued clever " Closh." "Dose rates mit dem Yose- 
mite hotels vas four tollar ein day, aber you make him 
sheaper some ven you dond't put too much slityle on 
already yet." 



92 



GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 



"How's that?" 

" Veil, I tole you how it comes abondt. Dose hotel 
fellers puts the price vay oojj to fellers mit slityle on, 
unclt vay doion to fellers mi tout cler shtyle." 

I, for one, being in for economy skirmished around 
and secured a slouch hat, which, after considerable 







THE FLUME. 



heated discussion on the part of my comrades, was de- 
cided to be a trifle worse than the one I discarded. I 
tried persistently, but in vain, to induce the rest of the 
company to follow my example, arguing earnestly and 
logically that this change in the habiliments of my 
upper story would save the company at least eight 
dollars a day on board, and probably not less than one 



INTO THE HEAKT OF THE SIERRAS. 



93 




A SIERRA CASCADE. 



dollar and fifty cents a bushel on oats ; and that if Ihey 
would do as I had done this reduction would be per- 
ceptibly larger. I especially insisted that the Ohio 
real estate operator should, in view of his depreciated 



94 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

city lots, be consistent and lower the standard of his 
wearing apparel. But all logic was in vain. Each 
one declared that I had already lowered the standard 
of dress at least ninety per cent, for the whole party, 
and that if any reduction of rates were to be had on 
this basis my slouch hat would secure them. But time 
was passing, and I succumbed to the decision of the 
majority, waving my plea for dress reform, conscious 
of having made enough objections to the course of my 
opponents to place them on the defensive should any- 
thing betide us. After taking these advisable precau- 
tions I thus allowed the " deadlock," which was clog- 
ging the wheels of progress, to be broken, having 
become thoroughly ingratiated into the affections of 
my bucolic constituency. 

We then started off under a favorable sky toward 
the mountains, all divergences of opinion being either 
reconciled or tolerated. We were, at least, all harmo- 
nious on one point, and that was: to reach the valley. 
Rain, shine or earthquake, we were bound for the far- 
famed Yosemite. How we did fly! Over hills, down 
into the valleys, up the mountains, away into the heart 
of the Sierras. 

Space will not admit of a detailed account of the 
first two days' drive, In general, however, it may be 
said that much that was instructive delighted both eye 
and ear, and equally as much that was entertaining 
proved higldy edifying. Here were sheep and cattle 
feeding upon a thousand hills. Here were variously 
colored rocks strewed along the vales and crowning 
the hill-tops. Here were abandoned shafts and for- 



96 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

saken mining camps. Here, too, was the long flume 
for rafting lumber, winding like a gargantuan boa 
around the mountain peaks for many miles. At Grub 
Gulch (a name dear to the heart of the average pros- 
pector, since tradition has it that he could make his 
" grub " here when he failed everywhere else) there 
were a number of mines in successful operation. 
These we duly visited, taking away with us several de- 
sirable specimens of gold ore. We also encountered 
deer en route and several other denizens of the forest 
to which we found difficulty in affixing the appropriate 
names. While referring to game it is also worthy to 
note the profusion of pigeons and quails inhabiting the 
foot-hills. At least ten thousand of these, started by 
the sound of our flying wheels, encountered our path 
within shooting range — enough, properly served up, 
to have stood the priests of Israel over Sunday in the 
wilderness, or, if served up according to modern 
formula, to have made soup for Xenophon and his 
army of ten thousand during the period of their retreat 
— one barrel of the emulsion to each soldier. Bag- 
ging a few of these tender-loined bipeds, I endeavored 
to persuade my swell partners to ^' rough it " and 
cook our own game in genuine camp style. But there 
was no use in trying to force lessons of economy upon 
my flush attendants. They were opposed to anything 
which might soil their knee-buckles and so the quails 
were ordered served up on toast at the tavern. 

But without detailing these and similar episodes of 
the journey, suffice it to say that we were, during this 
part of the trip, elated, benighted, snowed on, hailed 



INTO THE HEART OF THE SIERRAS. 97 

and thundered at by turns. On one occasion Jupiter 
Pluvius, after smasliing up our umbrellas in a violent 
gale, turned the hose on the whole crowd. But still 
we sped on like pursued road-runners until after two 
days of eventful sight-seeing, fusillading and crack 
driving among the pine-studded heights of the Sierras, 
we arrived at Big Tree Station, about two-thirds of the 
distance to the valley. Here we put up for the night, 
having stopped the first night at Grub Gulch. 

Big Tree Station is on the Yosemite Reserve. So 
now we had to deal with the government and pay gov- 
ernment prices. I knew the schedule rates to be four 
dollars a day, but in view of "Mynheer's" friendly 
admonitions in regard to style it was only fair to con- 
clude that I was entitled to " cut rates." So, after a 
good night's rest and an ample breakfast, all feeling in 
good spirits for another day's drive, I ordered our rig 
and stepped up to the office to pay the bill. Pulling 
the slouch hat well down on to my head and twisting 
my necktie askew over the collar I struck an attitude 
and enquired, in true western phraseology, as to the 
amount of tax the government proposed to levy on me 
and my " pards." 

"Supper, lodging and breakfast for four — and 
horse feed, fifteen dollars sir," was the consoling reply. 

Being assured that this included tooth-picks and all, 
I paid the bill like a lord, knowing this to be the reg- 
ular rate to tourists, and that it Avas futile to persist in 
trying to convey the impression of poverty with the 
Ohio capitalist and his plug hat looming up in our 
midst. It was equally preposterous to think of posing 
7 



98 



GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 




ENTRANCE TO YOSEMITE VALLEY. 



as local patronage with our 
names registered from tliree 
different states. We were 
here at about the same alti- 
tude as the Yosemite, but must overcome 
one thousand six hundred feet to reach it. 
Wo were good for this, and so boarding 
our barouche courageously dashed away 
into the interminable depths of forest T^'X^'^" 
before us. I now used all the power of persuasion I 
could muster to induce my co-travelers to smash in the 
tops of their stiff hats, arguing that it would save many 
times the value of their head-gear in the cost of living. 
But all rhetoric Avas in vain. The nabobs recklessly per- 
sisted in preserving the original shapes of their skull- 
protectors thus compelling me to unjustly share the loss 



^4 



INTO THE HEART OF THE SIERRAS. 99 

which must ensue as a logical sequence of their pig- 
headedness. But never mind, Rome wasn't reformed 
in a day. 

Crack! goes the rattan, and onward we speed 
through forests of pine, cedar and redwood. Away we 
fly over dizzy heights, along precipitous banks, 
down one hill and up two, until we reach the summit. 
Here we took dinner at a trapper's, there being no 
hotel between Big Trees and the Yosemite. 

During our repast we learned something of the 
peculiar life of this solitude. Among other interesting 
incidents of the place, there was once a herd of deer 
roving about in these mountain wilds, that made it a 
part of the daily programme to visit the old cabin on 
the summit. Having here received their usual allow- 
ance of salt and regaled their appetites at the festive 
slop-pail, they returned to their mountain fastnesses, 
seemingly satisfied with the bill of fare provided by 
their good-natured host. These, too, were the feelings 
which we entertained, as we took our leave and sped 
away down the heights along a precipitous trail toward 
the valley. After advancing several miles we reached 
an opening in the almost interminable forest, whence 
our eyes were greeted by another beautiful panorama 
of mountain scenery. Beyond the deep, picturesque 
gorge, on the verge of which the mountain roadway 
extends for several miles, could be seen hills and 
mountains rolling away, one above another, far in the 
distance, and even the Coast Eange, afc least a hundred 
miles to the west, standing in dim outline against the 
sky. But behold ! What is this ? All at once we 



100 



GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 



reacli tlie height overlooking the valley. A sign-board 
discloses the fact that we are on the Peak of Inspira- 
tion. It is, however, a precipice rather than a peak. 
But in the matter of inspiration there could be no 
question, as the Yosemite unfolded its robes of 
matchless beauty before us. 




CHAPTER VII. 

EARTH'S CROWNING GLORY. 

Here, facing us from tlie opposite side of the valley, 
is a huge promontory of granite, having smooth, pol- 
ished sides, handsomely striped with peculiar tints of 
light and shade, and rising to the height of fifteen 
Bunker Hill monuments or seven of Egypt's highest 
pyramids. This we at once recognized as the El Capi- 
tan of which Prof. Whitney wrote: "It is doubtful if 
anywhere in the world is presented so squarely cut, so 
lofty and so imposing a face of rock." As we stand 
looking in wonder at this massive pile, a beautiful sil- 
very cloud settles down upon its summit and presents, 
in the light of the sinking sun, a halo of indescribable 
beauty crowning the "great chief of the valley." De- 
scending along a tortuous trail in the form of a wind- 
ing stair-case, we soon cross the path of the "' rock 
avalanche " that recently tore up trees, breaking them 
into fragments and creating the wildest imaginable 
scene of destruction. As we reach Pohono bridge, at 
the foot of the trail, the beautiful Bridal Yeil appears 
in full glory, sifting its waters over a precipice nearly 
one thousand feet above the valley. In falling, it 
breaks into a shower of mist that is so deflected by 
currents of air as to present the appearance of a white 
silken veil tossed in the wind. On the opposite side 
of the valley the Eibbon or Virgin Tears Fall plunges, 

lOI 



102 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

in a slender stream, over the head of El Capitan and 
breaks into a mist that, to all appearances, loses itself 
in the air before it has completed a third of its jour- 
ney. The upper part of this miniature fall being 
obscured by the nebulous halo resting on El Capitan, 
the novel spectacle is jiresented of a delicate cascade 
falling directly from the clouds. 

Three massive monoliths, called the Three Brotliers, 
now rise up before us — the highest six hundred feet 
above El Capitan. Now Cathedral Bock and its two 
graceful spires loom into view, reaching heights before 
which Trinity and St. Patrick's would appear like pig- 
mies in the presence of Hercules. Anon " The Sen- 
tinel " appears — a colossal granite obelisk perched 
upon an eminence two thousand feet above the valley, 
and rising above this fifteen times the height of Cleo- 
patra's needle. AYonder follows upon Avonder, and 
all at once the Yosemite Falls breaks into full view, 
facing the giant Sentinel and pouring its restless, 
roaring waters over a precipice half a mile above our 
heads or more than sixteen times the heio^ht of Niao^ara. 
The highest portion of its white, feathery column is 
soon enveloped in a cumbrous cloud of mist, and again 
we have the marvelous sight of a cataract falling 
directly from the heavens. 

Reaching the old Yosemite Valley House, shortly 
before dark Ave enjoyed from its historic veranda a fine 
view of the Yosemite falls, pouring over a precipice 
two thousand five hundred and forty-eight feet above 
the valley, the precipice being about a thousand feet 
beloAv the tops of the ledges enclosing it. The valley 



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104 GEAPHIC SKETCHES OP THE WEST. 

itself is about four thousand feet above the sea and 
enclosed by nearly perpendicular walls as much higher. 

The Duke of Sutherland, who visited the valley a 
few years ago, said: "The Yosemite spoils one for 
any other scenery upon earth." According to this, the 
writer and his comrades spent several days deliberately 
and perseveringly spoiling themselves for the average 
attractions of this earth. 

In our perambulations the day following our arrival 
we passed the old Hutchins cabin with which so many 
historical events pertaining to the opening of the val- 
ley are associated. Here are still to be seen the an- 
cient cooking stove, the dilapidated chairs and broken 
crockery that did such commendable service " in the 
days that are gone." Beyond this, a short distance, we 
reached the base of the lower Yosemite fall, in ap- 
proaching which were encountered the wind currents 
produced by the falling waters. These swept upward 
under umbrellas and outer garments in the form of a 
baptismal spray that was most effective. A brief en- 
campment before the cheerful fire-place at the hotel, 
however, removed any inconveniences we might suffer 
from this source, and after dinner we were prepared to 
continue our explorations. 

These consisted chiefly of a twenty-mile drive about 
the valley, including the trip to the cascades, some 
eight miles down the river. In this direction we were 
confronted by numberless massive rocks, weighing 
hundreds of tons, and scattered promiscuously along 
the banks of the river for several miles. These were 
perched up in all manner of perilous attitudes, many 



earth's crowning glory. 



105 



of them being piled one above another in tumble down 
positions — here overhanging the roadways and there 
set up on end some distance above us, freighted with 
disaster. We knew full well that others by thousands 
had made the tour of the valley unharmed and all 

reason seemed to indicate that the 

chances of getting through alive 

^ were in our favor. It was, never- 

^^- theless, impossible to dispel the 







BRIDAL VEIL FALL. 



106 



GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 



conviction that 
these mountain- 
sized rocks, so 
insecurely poised 
above us, would 
come tearing 
down the declivi- 
ties and put an 
end to our recrea- 
tions. Occasion- 
ally one of these 
does actually 
lose its anchor- 
age and the de- 
vastating result 
is frightful. 
While nothing 
could be more 
fear- inspiring 
than this journey 
down the river, 
few sights could 
be better calcu- 
lated to excite 
. wonder than the 
return trip. ;: In 
I the latter the attention is somewhat 
withdrawn from these threatening 
boulders and directed to the imposing 
wall of masonry, half a mile high, that 
hems in the valley on both sides, and 




CATHEDRAL ROCKS. 



earth's crowning glory. 



107 




THE SENTINEL. 



over the rim or summit of wliicli numerous cascades fall 
in picturesque beauty. 

Here the wildest and most fairy-like scenes break 
upon the vision. The day we made the trip in this 



108 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

direction nature seemed to have on lier liigh-heeled 
shoes, and was in all respects dressed as if for some 
special occasion. The massive granite walls of the 
valley seemed larger and larger the more minutely they 
were scanned, and after we had advanced a short dis- 
tance the very heavens fell in the form of descending 
clouds, here resting upon the rocky walls of the valley 
and in places falling far below into the valley itself. 
Trees and mountain peaks, three thousand feet above 
us, appeared through rifts in the clouds, as if standing 
isolated and alone in the clear sky. Scores of delicate 
cascades were, for all our senses could discover, falling 
directly from heaven and everywhere the goddess of 
enchantment held undisputed sway. 

The next day we ordered our rig at an early hour 
and proceeded to explore the valley in the opposite 
direction, or up the river. Some two miles above the 
hotels we found Ihe Merced divided into three branches, 
which retreat in the form of rocky canons into the mys- 
terious wilds of the Sierras. To trace these canons up 
toward their sources was our purpose. 

Beginning at the left branch, called the Tenaya 
Fork, we drove over a meandering road two miles up 
the canon. Of the highway itself little can be said 
except that it failed to keep the same point of compass 
or level for any considerable distance. But for all this 
it faithfully performed its office in bringing us to the 
small but charming sheet of water that lay so snugly 
ensconced among the mountains at its terminus. This 
is the much-talked-of Mirror Lake, in whose silver 
waters are reflected mountain peaks that rise abruptly 




YOSEMITE FALLS. 



110 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

from its margin nearly a mile liigli. We were espe- 
cially fortunate in the time selected for viewing this 
phenomenon. The sun, just rising over South Dome, 
Mount AVatkins and other tree-studded peaks, as seen 
reflected in the smooth surface of the lake, all com- 
bined to produce a sublime effect. Just over the lake 
a curious conformation of outlines and peculiar blend- 
ing of colors unite to form two novel pictures on the 
adjacent rocks — the one resembling white garments 
suspended on a clothes-line, and the other a woman's 
head. The latter is called the " Goddess of the Yal- 

ley." 

Returning to the forks of the river and omitting 
the ascent of the Illilouette or southwest fork, whose 
chief object of interest — the Illilouette Falls — is 
visible from a point on the main branch, we dismount 
and proceed on foot up the Nevada trail. This winds 
along the banks of the main river and affords many 
charming views en 7'oufe to the more noted points of 
interest five miles up the trail. A persevering climb 
of three miles brings us to Register Rock, near which 
a good view is obtained of Vernal Falls. Continuing 
the ascent over rocks and crags and amid a galaxy of 
wondrous sights and sounds, we soon pass through the 
mists of the falls, climb " The Ladder," and at last 
reach the precipice over which the waters of the Mer- 
ced fall three hundred and fifty feet. Fortune favors 
the fearless, and here, projecting out from among the 
rocks above, we espy the hospitable roof of Snow's 
Hotel, the supplies of which are brought on horseback 
over a precipitous bridle path five miles in length. 



30 

o 

73 



> 




112 



GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 



After renewing our drooping energies at this moun- 
tain refectory, we proceeded to the precipice overlook- 
ing Vernal Falls. Here we find ourselves in one of 
Nature's grandest temples — hemmed in on all sides 
by an amphitheatre which has probably no parallel on 
the continent, if anywhere in the world. A monstrous 
flat rock, perhaps an eighth of a mile long and half as 
wide, forms a spacious rostrum over which the ob- 




NORTH DOME. 



server may wander at pleasure. Another, similar to 
this, only turned up on end, rises hundreds of feet out 
of the depths, protruding just far enough above the 
horizontal one to form a secure breastwork along the 
edge of the precipice. One is thus enabled to ap- 
proach to the very brink of the falls without peril. 
The praises of Yosemite are variously sung as seen 
from Inspiration and Glacier Point, at the foot of Bri- 



earth's crowning glory. 



113 



dal Veil and tlie 
summit of Sentinel 
Dome and Eagle 
Peak; but if com- 
parisons are in order 
amid a host of won- 
derful siglits, all of 
which seem a con- 
summation of crown- 
ing glories, this part 
of the valley surely 
deserves the palm as 
presenting the beau 
ideal of true loveli- 
ness in nature com- 
bined Avith awful 
sublimity. The am- 
ple collation provided 
our company by the 
considerate old gen- 
tleman who presides 
over this sequestered 
inn, so remote from 
human habitation, 
certainly could not 
account for the fa- 
vorable impression produced by the environments of 
the place. 

At the right the Merced Kiver glides noiselessly 
along its unruffled bed and suddenly hurls its full 
volume of water over the precipice at your feet and 




SOUTH DOME. 



114 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

far down into the abyss before your eyes. But before 
it is fairly lodged in these mysterious depths, it throws 
out a cloud of mist that is borne hundreds of feet into 
the air by ascending currents, presenting a continual 
succession of rainbows to the observer standing in the 
sunligfht below. No sooner are these waters mar- 
shalled into their channel than they plunge violently 
down their ragged bed, dashing among rocks and roots, 
and broken trunks of hemlock and fir, here breaking 
into feathery shafts and there shooting perpendicularly 
into the air, boiling, seething and glancing in the sun- 
light. On either side of this restless flood nearly 
perpendicular walls of granite rise to the height of 
three or four thousand feet, and present a beautiful 
combination of colors. Directly in front, rising over 
three thousand feet above the valley, is a beautiful 
triangular glacis crowned with evergreens. In this 
direction Grizzly Peak and Glacier Point loom up in 
grand proportions. The waters dash and roar on every 
side, and a train of other sights and sounds falls upon 
eye and ear, bewildering sense and leading the mind 
away from self to a consciousness of higher powers 
that seem, to preside over the place. 

Turning to the rear and looking up the river, a 
view no less enchanting o^reets the eye. Here the 
Nevada Falls, also containing the entire volume of the 
main river, show their white flashing waters as they 
shoot downward seven hundred feet to the river bed 
below. Here, gathering themselves within their 
wonted channel, they dash furiously down among the 
rocks, forming the beautiful Diamond Cascades. 




VIEWS IN THE VALLEY. 



116 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

Thence spreading out over the surface of a spacious, 
fiat rock, they flow on as composedly as if nothing had 
happened, serenely collecting themselves at your side, 
into a miniature crystal lake. Here, resting a 
moment, as it were, they make the second mad plunge 
over the Yernal precipice just described. 

From this outlook the more distant view is no 
less inspiring. South Dome shows his snowy sum- 
mit a mile above the valley. Mount Broderick lifts 
heavenward his imperious head, and Starr King 
triumphantly displays his pine-croAvned temples nine 
thousand feet above the sea. Near by is the Cap 
of Liberty, standing forth like a guardian of the cen- 
turies, raising his mighty granite shaft above us more 
than ten times the height of the dome of the capitol at 
AVashington. 

But here I might as well surrender at discretion. 
To attempt to convey an adequate conception of these 
wonderful manifestations, or as some call them " mar- 
velous freaks," would be presumption. To describe 
them in detail would be to describe the kaleidoscopic 
scenes of an ever-shifting panorama. The constant 
wonder is that the same object of interest impresses 
the observer so differently at different times. This was 
especially noticeable on our return from the upper por- 
tion of the valley. The three domes, Grizzly and 
Glacier peaks, Illilouette Falls and the splashing, 
glistening waters of the Merced all assumed a new 
garb of glory in the light of the setting sun. Wash- 
ington Column and North Dome posed in spectral 
colors, new and strange, and the Boyal Arches assumed 




FALLS OF THE YOSEMITE 



118 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

fantastic phases wliicli favored the superstition that we 
were about to enter the mystic confines of a Druid 
temple. The summit of the half dome was isolated 
from its granite pedestal by an ascending cloud, and 
thus made to appear like the inverted hulk a foundered 
ship drifting at sea. 

The observer at Yosemite is the happy victim of 
constant surprise. He stands before El Capitan in 
mute astonishment, contemplating the stupendous pro- 
portions of a single granite rock two miles long and 
two-thirds of a mile high. He sees the great mono- 
lithic giants of the earth here resurrected from the 
sepulchre of the ages, standing mute sentinels before 
the empyrean heights, guarding, as it were, the gates 
of Paradise. He hears the deep intonations of surg- 
ing floods at his feet and the weird music of clashing 
waters half a mile above his head. He catches the 
mystic notes, sung by miniature cascades high in the 
clouds and listens in rapt wonder, as they blend 
their choral voices with the winds of heaven, chanting 
wild anthems to the granite hosts, that stand from age 
to age, unwearied listeners to their ceaseless rhapsodies. 
But where shall we stop in describing Yosemite? 
Niagara herself throws up the white flag in attempting 
to rival it and so must every writer who attempts to 
describe it. 



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CHAPTEE Yin. 

THE MAMMOTH TREES. 

In the last chapter I alluded to the " Mammoth 
Trees of California," within a few miles of which we 
passed on our way to the Yosemite. In making the 
trip to the Yosemite by stage, it is generally thought 
advisable to go by one route and return by another, 
but the necessity of getting our rig and accessories 
back to the point of departure on the Southern Pacific, 
and gathering up the few worldly effects which we had 
left at that place, compelled us to go and return by the 
same route. By so doing, however, we Avere enabled 
to study the wonderful flora of the Sierras more in 
detail, and especially to visit the Mariposa grov3 of 
"Big Trees." Notwithstanding the familiar aspect of 
the way, there was still more or less of the constant 
wonder, "What next?" and we were all the while on 
the lookout for some new extravaganza in nature. In 
this we were eminently favored in our explorations 
among the " Big Trees." Arriving at " Big Tree " 
station the same day that we left the valley, we there 
put up for the night. In good season the following 
morning we pushed off for the Sequoia forest. As 
these prodigies of the vegetable kingdom are to be 
found only at altitudes ranging from five to seven 
thousand feet, we were obliged to make a considerable 
ascent to reach them. In so doing we encountered 

I20 



THE MAMMOTH TEEES. 



121 



snow from two to three feet deep, but the road some- 
what broken by the stage enabled us without great 
difficulty to make the journey. Although the main 
body of the grove is eight miles from the hotel, we 




MEASURING THE GRIZZLY GIANT. 



had scarcely advanced half that distance when we 
found ourselves in the midst of trees of unusual size 
— perhaps twelve to fifteen feet in diameter. This 
phenomena was viewed as an appropriate introduction 



122 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

to the greater marvels beyond, which we were fondly 
anticipating, and concerning which so many Quixotic 
stories have been told. 

The trees passed in the outskirts of the grove 
resembled large, shapely cedars, though taller and 
more imposing. They did not appeal to the senses as 
being exactly marvelous ; still they surpassed any 
variety of the pine family we had yet seen, and fur- 
nished a very suggestive hint of what was coming. As 
we advanced, the trunks continued to assume more 
and more conspicuous proportions, until we reached 
the "Grizzly Giant," the largest tree in the grove. 
This is advertised as being thirty-three feet in diame- 
ter; but, according to my own measurements, these 
figures must be considered as applying to its longest 
diameter, which includes a gnarled protuberance of 
about two feet in thickness. Its height is two hun- 
dred and sixty feet, its circumference ninety-four, and 
at a distance of one hundred feet from the ground is a 
limb six feet through. According to conservative esti- 
mate, the "Grizzly Giant" must have been a thrifty 
young tree when the Children of Israel were wandering 
in the Desert of Sinai. At the beginning of the Chris- 
tian Era it must have towered aloft nearly to its pres- 
ent height. These trees, being so far above their 
neighbors, are exposed to the surging elements of the 
upper regions, and are thus constantly trimmed and 
broken down at their summits by wind and accumu- 
lating snow, so that many of the finest specimens are 
truncated and present a dwarfish appearance. The 
" Grizzly Giant " has suffered in this respect even 



THE MAMMOTH TREES. 



123 




THE WAWONA. 



more than its weaker brethren, besides having been 
assailed by forest fires. But in spite of all its misfor- 
tunes and adversities, it still remains a titanic wonder 
of the vegetable world — the Antseus of the palestra — 
for forty centuries a wrestler with lightning and tem- 
pest, and to-day proud, defiant, and boldly awaiting its 



124 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

rival, Hercules. I, for one, was glad to scrape acquaint- 
ance with the veteran wrestler with the winds, and 
treated him with perfect confidence ; but my friend, the 
Secretary, eyed the old giant with suspicion and ex- 
pressed doubts about his age. He said the old fellow 
didn't look as old as he was cracked up to be, and, in 
order to satisfy his skepticism on this point, gathered 
a number of his cones, with the express purj^ose of 
planting them on his return to the East. As soon as 
the Secretary's investigations are completed, the true 
age of a tree thirty feet in diameter will be duly 
reported. 

After a careful and respectful survey of the old 
giant's anatomy we proceeded to pay our respects to 
the lesser dignitaries of the Big Tree Forest. These, 
though less prodigious, were able to make themselves 
interesting- — ^ in some cases manifesting a remarkable 
spirit of hospitality, even inviting us inside. Most of 
them bear familiar names. There is " Longfellow," 
"Whittier," "Harvard," "The Faithful Couple," 
"Virginia," and "Maryland" (close by each other's 
side) ; " The Diamond Group " of four, " The Sen- 
tinels," " The Eight Commissioners," " Lincoln," 
" Grant," " Illinois," " Columbia," and other noted 
ones whose names I do not chance to recall. The once 
imperious "Andy Johnson" fell about a dozen years 
ago. But the tree above all others which seems to at- 
tract attention is the " Wawona," through which the 
stage drives in making the circuit of the grove. Under 
this we halted long enough to observe that the roof 
above us was amply sufficient to cover our horses and 




HOLLOW TRUNK, 



126 GEAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

vehicle, with awning to spare, the distance through 
being twenty-eight feet. Near this wastiie " Pioneer's 
Cabin," a hollow, upright tree, capable of housing a 
dozen or more persons peaceably inclined. Not far 
from this was a prostrate hollow trunk, which the 
writer entered, walking upright, some distance before 
being: able to reach the roof above. 

In the grove there are fully six hundred trees from 
thirty to ninety feet in circumference and from two 
hundred and twenty-five to three hundred feet in 
height. It is the only grove set aside as a national 
park — all the others, seven in number, being private 
property. Some of the latter, however, are quite as re- 
markable, though but one of them — the Calaveras — 
is visited to any considerable extent by tourists. This 
is owing to their being less accessible and not kept in 
shape to receive company. The largest tree yet dis- 
covered is in Tulare Grove, on the King's River. It is 
a fallen trunk, forty-four feet in diameter and one hun- 
dred and thirty feet in circumference. In the Fresno 
Grove, south of the Mariposa, is also a fine collection 
of these mammoth trees, one of which, still standing, 
is ninety-six and one-half feet in circumference. The 
tallest living tree of this species now known is said to 
be located in the Stanislaus Grove, near the sources of 
the Stanislaus River. It is three hundred and fifty feet 
high and ninety -seven feet around. 

The Calaveras Grove, reached by stage by the way 
of Stockton and Milton, or from the Narrow Gauge 
terminus at Valley Springs, through Murphy's, also 
contains a number of trees possessing special interest 



THE MAMMOTH TREES. 



127 




to tourists. They are noted 
for their sky-stabbing pro- 
pensities — surpassing those 
of the Mariposa Grove, it 
is said, both in height and 
symmetry. It contains, how- 
ever, only about one hundred 
trees, the tallest of which 
is three hundred and twenty- 
five feet high, though but 
forty-five feet in circum- 
ference. Here it may be 
well to observe that the 
relative size of these trees 
can not be inferred either 
from their height or cir- 
cumference. In one instance 
a tree broken three hundi-ed bfr-^ 
feet from the ground, was ijl'Ml. ^-^"M 
eighteen feet in diameter, J^^^^"^ 
even at that ex- 
traordinary alti- A d^-^^^fyj^t^'^ 



tude. There are 
four trees in all in 
the Calaveras 
group now living 
over three hun- 
dred feet high, 
yet only one of 
these compares in ^^^ 
maofnitude with 



the "Grizzly 



KEYSTONE STATE, CALAVERAS GROVE. 

325 feet high. 



128 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST, 

Giant," but two liunclred and sixty feet liigh. Some 
run to girth, others to grace. 

Many of the Calaveras trees have fallen, some of 
them quite recently. Among these are the " Burnt 
Tree," three hundred and thirty feet long and ninety- 
seven feet around, and " The Father of the Forest," 
four hundred and thirty-five feet in length and one 
hundred and one feet in circumference. The largest 
trees are the fallen. "Uncle Tom's Cabin" outrivals 
the "Pioneer's Cabin" of the Mariposa in being 
capable of comfortably sheltering twenty-five persons 
who are not over exacting as to elbow room, But the 
most talked of among the Calaveras trees is the one 
felled a few years ago by artificial means. How it was 
overthrown has been a puzzle to many a tourist, and it 
was not until after many fruitless inquiries that the 
writer succeeded in getting the mystery solved. It 
appears that holes were bored into the tree by long 
pump augurs and the intervening partitions cut away 
by sawing. So great was the task that five men 
worked faithfully at the job for more than three weeks, 
besides spending over two days in driving in wedges 
to topple it over after the work of cutting through had 
been finished. This tree, three hundred and two feet 
high and ninety-six feet in circumference at the 
ground, was over three thousand years old (as indi- 
cated by the annular rings,) and contained half a 
million cubic feet of lumber, enough to build several 
incorporated towns. Builders will appreciate these 
figures. The remaining stump was converted into a 
dancing platform and the votaries of Terpsichore 




!N THE HIGH SIERRAS. 



130 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

" have measured many a mile to tread a measure " 
thereon. AVithin the railing by which it is enclosed 
four cotillion sets have danced at a time. 

These titans of the vegetable world belong to the 
genus seqitoia, so called after a half-breed Cherokee 
chief who invented an Indian alphabet. The species 
is gigantcea, called also Wellingtonia by the English 
botanists and Washingtonia by the American. They 
are closely allied to the redwood, which attaijis a 
diameter of sixteen feet and bears the botanical name 
sequoia semper virens. The big trees are often called 
the " giant redwood," to distinguished them from the 
common redwood. Both belong to the same family 
and genus, differing only in species. The former, 
however, are found only in the Sierras and between the 
thirty-sixth and thirty-eighth parallels, while the red- 
wood proper, the staple building material of the Pacific 
Coast, is confined to the coast range. 

One by one these monarchs of the forest are yield- 
ing: to the elements of fire and wind, but there are 
others of all ages, from saplings up, aspiring to fill 
their places. So future generations need not borrow 
trouble for fear they will be cut off from seeing this 
one of the modern " seven wonders." In view of the 
fact that these trees are confined to such narrow limits 
of altitude and latitude, it has often been asked if the 
species could be reproduced in other localities. I learn 
from the botanists that it has already been introduced 
into Great Britain, being there kept on sale in the 
nurseries; but in the Eastern and Middle States it 
meets with varying success, being on the whole some- 
what hazardous. Still it will stand. 




ON THE coast: 



n-'T^' 



132 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

Higher up the mountain, beyond the " Big Tree " 
belt, fir and tamarack pine grow prolific, while below 
it we found an abundance of pitch and Lambert pine, 
white cedar and the lofty Douglass spruce. The Lam- 
bert — commonly called the sugar-pine — belongs to the 
sub-genus of white pine and is especially conspicuous 
along the slopes of the Sierras. It is a remarkable 
tree and in some places grows to a height of from 
three hundred to three hundred and fifty feet — thus 
rivaling in loftiness the Big Trees, though but twelve 
to fifteen feet in diameter. Its cones are the largest 
I have ever seen, being from a foot to twenty inches in 
length and even larger around than they are long. 

The supply of available timber in this region, prac- 
tically inexhaustible, is made accessible by means of 
long wooden flumes. The one reaching this part of 
the Sierras has its terminus at Madera on the South- 
ern Pacific Kailroad and is fifty-four and one-half miles 
in length. In 1886 it carried 18,000,000 cubic feet of 
lumber to the valley. These flumes are sometimes 
used to convey venturesome passengers down the 
mountains and the ride is described as being the most 
exciting imaginable. Mr. H. J. Kamsdell, of the NeAV 
York Tribune, once rode down the Nevada flume in 
company with the two millionaires — James G. Fair and 
the late J. C. Flood. They made the entire distance 
(fifteen miles) in thirty-five minutes, in some parts of 
the journey going at the rate of nearly a mile a min- 
ute. They all barely escaped with their lives, their 
boats being upset in the passage. 



^ niMi 




CHAPTEK IX. 

OBJECTS OF INTEREST IN THE GOLDEN STATE 

Returning to the " Southern Pacific," and thence to 
San Francisco by rail, we enjoyed a few days of grate- 
ful rest in the "Golden Gate" city. San Francisco is 
noted for its superb hotels, quite as much as for any 
other single feature of its material make-up. These 
excel in size and number, as well as beauty of archi- 
tecture. More people live in hotels here in proportion 
to the nvimber of inhabitants, than any other city in 
America. San Francisco is variously called the " City 
of St. Francis," "Golden Gate City," "Bay City," and 
"Bay- Window City." To these let us add, "Hotel 
City." The propriety of this last appellation will not 
be questioned when it is considered that it has nearly 
one hundred hotels, over two hundred boarding- 
houses, two hundred and fifty restaurants and five 
hundred lodo^in of -houses. 

The three principal hotels are the Palace, Grand, 
and Baldwin, all of which are studded with bay win- 
dows on all sides, with a view to meet the popular 
demand for sunshine. The first two are connected by 
a corridor over New Montgomery street — both being 
under the same management. Some idea of the 
princely character of these hotels may be conceived 
from the fact that the late Mr. W. C. Ralston spent 
about seven million dollars in erecting and fitting uj) 

134 




ON WHEELS IN GOLDEN GATE PARK. 



136 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

the Palace alone. It is a seven-story marble struc- 
ture, occupying a whole square, the total length of its 
halls being over three miles. There are three hundred 
and sixty suites of rooms, about a thousand large single 
rooms with baths adjoining, and ten spacious dining 
halls, one of which is one hundred and sixty by fifty- 
five feet. The hotel has a novel water supply in four 
artesian wells, situated in the basement, and capable 
of supplying twenty-five thousand gallons per hour. 

Other objects of interest are Golden Gate Park, 
Nobb Hill — the residence of San Francisco's aris- 
tocracy — the Cliff House and Seal Kocks. At the 
latter place the tourist is sure to be entertained (for a 
Avhile at least) by the incessant barking and the count- 
less antics of an immense school of seals. These 
inhabit the rocks called by their name, and situated a 
few rods off the coast, near the entrance of the Golden 
Gate. Golden Gate Park, next to Fairmount Park, 
Philadelphia, is the largest in America. Europe has 
its equal only in the Bois de Boulogne at Paris. It is 
three miles long, half a mile wide, with an addition 
three-quarters of a mile long, extending into the better 
part of the city. In addition to these lavish dimen- 
sions and the elegant drives thus afforded, its attrac- 
tiveness is greatly enhanced by its half-mile of ocean 
beach, its two hundred and fifty thousand trees, its 
imposing conservatory, fine statuary and wild profu- 
sion of tropical plants and flowers. 

Chinatown is the most novel feature of San Fran- 
cisco. Visited by night with a policeman or other 
guide, the tourist is enabled to see " China in a nut- 




ALLEY, CHINESE QUARTERS. 



138 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

sliell." Long rows of curiosity shops, the joss houses 
with their idols and works of Chinese art, the theatres 
with their clatter and gibberish, the opium hells and 
underground stables where human beings are huddled 
together like cattle in a stock-car, all force themselves 
upon the tourist's sensibilities in this quarter of the 
city. San Francisco is called the Paris of the Pacific 
coast. It is not only this, but also the Pekin of America. 

The harbor of San Francisco is a veritable wonder. 
The other night, while crossing the Golden Gate chan- 
nel, its glory seemed more than ever apparent. Leav- 
ing the railroad at Sancelito, we crossed over by 
steamship just as the sun was setting over the ocean. 
The crimson rays of this sinking luminary flashing 
upon the distant heights, Alcatraz bristling with can- 
non, and the waves glancing in the purple, sun-painted 
waters, combined with spire and dome and turret loom- 
ing up from the city, to form a study for the artist and 
a theme for the poet. The greatest glory of this har- 
bor, however, is the great purpose it so admirably 
serves. Land-locked, capacious, deep and easily acces- 
sible, a more felicitous arrangement for the traffic of 
the seas could not be well conceived. 

Almost every part of the Pacific coast region pos- 
sesses some peculiar interest to one or another class of 
tourists. California is replete with mountain, lake and 
river scenery; it abounds in picturesque canons and 
charming valleys; it has a wealth of mines and min- 
eral springs; there are vineyards containing uj)ward 
of a thousand acres, vast orange groves bending under 
their burdens of gold, and, in fact, about 



OBJECTS OF INTEREST. 



139 



"All of beauty and of use, 
That one fair country can produce." 

Santa Rosa, with its famous Alameda Avenue of 
willows and enchanting environments, flourishing 
Fresno, far famed Monterey, the medicinal springs of 
Paso Robles and Paraiso, the noted saints of the coast, 
(San Rafael, Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, Santa Mon- 




SAN FRANCISCO BAY. 



ica and San Diego), the orange belt of Southern Cali- 
fornia, Yosemite and the big trees, are all interest- 
ing and all conveniently reached by special excursions 
leading out from San Francisco and Los Angeles. 

An interesting and profitable trip from the former 
of these two pivotal centers of travel is that by the 
''Southern Pacific" to Marysville,Chico, Red Bluff, Red- 



140 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

ding and Mount Shasta. This part of the State seems 
to be coming into greater prominence of late, and 
really there is much in the way of soil, scenery and 
climate to give it a claim both upon the tourist 
and home-seeker. Grain and stock-raising are largely 
engaged in, but fruit culture is coming rapidly to the 
front. In Tehama County, of which Red Bluff is 
the county-seat, are some of the princely posssessions 
lately owned by the California millionaire, Senator 
Leland Stanford, but now in the hands of his children. 
At Yina, a few miles south of Red Bluff, is the famous 
ranch belonging to this estate, containing fifty-six 
thousand acres, with its mammoth vineyard, said to be 
the largest known. 

Mount Shasta, the highest mountain of California 
(fourteen thousand four hundj'ed and forty feet above 
the sea), has in its vicinity not only some of the 
grandest scenery of the State, but also the most en- 
couraging field for the sportsman. Here, in addition 
to the more common game, is the grizzly and black 
bear, besides deer and other large game, nearly extinct 
at the south. 

But of all the " side trips " fi>im San Francisco, 
none, save the trip to Yosemite, have so enlisted the 
writer's enthusiasm as that, one hundred miles north 
into Lake County, among the hills of the Coast Range. 
Starting on this trip, Ave leave San Francisco in the 
morning. After crossing the bay, we reach Yallejo 
Junction (pronounced Yal-yay-ho) by means of the 
California Pacific Railroad. Crossing an arm of 
the bay, called San Pablo, by steamer, we proceeded 




VULCAN'S STEAM WORKS. 



142 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

thence by rail through the delightful, vineyard-studded 
valley of Napa, reaching the terminus of the iron 
track at Calistoga in time for dinner. The remaining 
and most eventfal portion of the journey is by stage. 

At Calistoga, Senator Stanford once began a series 
of enterprises for building up a fashionable resort, but 
abandoned the project in its infancy, leaving here and 
there only a few scattered reminders of his brilliant 
conception. On the site of the millionaire's opera- 
tions are still to be seen the mineral springs that were 
to work such miraculous healing. Into one or these I 
carelessly thrust my hand to determine the tempera- 
ture but was summarily reminded of the indiscretion. 
These springs are said to be turned to practical use by 
the bland Chinaman, who finds them admirably 
adapted for scalding his hogs and chickens. The ser- 
vice which they have performed in this direction has 
given them the characteristic flavor of pork and chicken 
soup — so our guide informed us. 

A few miles from here the demon of fire has evi- 
dently a still more approved heating apparatus, since, 
at a place known as the "Geysers," the earth boils 
and bubbles all around you, horrid sounds and sugges- 
tive odors fill the air, while seething caldrons and the 
shrill whistle of escaping steam add to the accumulat- 
ing testimony that you are paying a visit to the 
"Devil's Workshop." Here, too, is the "Devil's Ink- 
stand," the " Devil's Pulpit," and other property sup- 
posed to belong to the proprietor of the bottomless pit. 

A few miles' drive from Calistoofa also brino^s us to 
the "Petrified Forest." Huge trunks of fallen trees 







THE PETRIFIED FOREST. 



144 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

are here exposed to view in a perfect state of petrifac- 
tion. Most of them have so preserved their original 
form and appearance that the deception is detected only 
by close inspection. Our guide, with much display of 
emotion, pointed out a small block lying on the bank 
which a callow youth from Boston recently tried to 
kick out of his path. The tale which all coming gen- 
erations of tourists to this place will hear concerning 
the yawning boot and shattered phalanges of this Bos- 
ton youth will doubtless prove a sufficient warning 
against the danger of trifling Avith the fateful delu- 
sions. At the entrance of the Petrified Forest is a 
spring of arsenic Avater. This the tourist is expected 
to sample, if for no other reason, to gratify the offi- 
cious guide, who manifests a commendable anxiety to 
return a full equivalent for the price of admission 
to the grove. The effect of this water is seen in the 
alabaster complexion of some of the neighboring peo- 
ple who are addicted to its use. A lady here died from 
its effects some time ago. Still they will use it. 
" Beautiful or bust" seems to be the motto. After se- 
curing some desirable specimens we returned to Calis- 
toga, catching here and there glimpses of pleasing 
scenes en route. 

After two days of rest and entertainment in the 
vicinity of Calistoga, we proceeded by Wellington's 
line of six-horse coaches over one of the most romantic 
drives of the State to the lake region. This fifty-mile 
trip over the Coast Hills is considered one of the very 
best examples of mountain staging in the country. 
One who is accustomed to nothing more than an or- 



OBJECTS OF INTEREST. 



145 




THE DEVIL'S CANON. 



dinary drive in his easy cliaise can scarcely conceive 
the real nature of this exciting ride over hills and 
mountains. The fore part of the journey is unmis- 
takably uphill, but when the summits of Cobb and St. 
Helena mountains are reached the general grade seems 
downward. 

Beyond these summits we cover the highway at a 
dashing rate. On we go by a series of curves, ups and 
downs, right-angles and straight shoots through the air, 

IQ 



146 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

At one time we seem to be going up one side of a 
mammoth hencoop and down the other. What feats 
our imaginations tell us we are performing! Now 
comes the sensation of riding over the arc of a semi- 
circle on its hollow side. Next we make the same ex- 
cursion over the convex rim of the semi-circle inverted. 
Wonder follows wonder. We continue to experiment 
with the semi-circle until we think we have made its de- 
tour in every conceivable position. Then we take up 
the complete circle until, finally, by a master stroke, 
we make the entire circumference heels over head half 
the way round. It may be asked how we managed 
not to spill out of the coach while it was bottom side 
upward; but we did not pretend to rely upon gravity 
at any time to keep our positions. A precipitous bank 
at one point in the journey appears directly in front of 
us — we are shooting like an arrow toward it — what can 
possibly restrain us from plunging headlong into the 
deep abyss? At this crisis a woman sitting on the 
same seat with the driver begins to scream and grasps 
at the lines. But the cool-headed pilot of our destiny 
keeps a firm hold on the reins and steers us aside un- 
harmed. 

But behold! what next? All at once we encounter 
a field of glass — glass pebbles — glass stones — glass 
boulders. What means the reckless distribution of so 
valuable an article of commerce? The driver relieves 
the puzzled tourists of further suspense hy breaking 
the news that we are in the midst of a volcanic region. 
Being assured that the volcanoes are all extinct and 
harmless we breathe easy. We are now nearing our 



OBJECTS OF INTEKEST. 




ROUGH BUT ROMANTIC 

destination. This obsidian, locally known as "bottle- 
glass," continues to strew the earth along the way. 
Chaparral-crowned hills and grassy lawns, studded with 
oak, rise up before us in rapid succession. Here and 
there the white petals of the azalea are seen flapping 
their liliputian banners in the sunlight, while moss 



148 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

and mistletoe hang luxuriant from hoary pines. The 
glaring " recl-bucl," like a burning bush, shoots out 
from the thicket and blossoms of crimson and gold 
flame with beauty along the roadside. The eye is con- 
stantly refreshed by changing scenes, new vistas of 
charming scenery appear and disappear — there is noth- 
ing tame or trashy in a drive like this. But now we 
have come to a more level region; the road-bed begins 
to assume a more consistent trend and we glide 
smoothly along the shores of Clear Lake. Taking supper 
at Kelseyville, we reach Lakeport just at night-fall, 
there consigning to the arms of Morpheus all that re- 
mains of our mortal baggage. 

From Lakeport we proceeded the next day to Blue 
Lakes, " Saratoga Springs " and other points of inter- 
est. The whole region is most delectable. The air is 
bracing, the climate healthful and the scenery com- 
manding and noble. All about the country are num- 
berless mineral springs, where iron, sulphur and soda, 
and in fact nearly all the elements combined in favorite 
proportions, pour from nature's great soda fountain 
according to her clever caprice. In these fascinating 
environments, among these romantic hills, and on the 
shores of these beautiful mountain lakes we spent 
three weeks and over in a state of blissful satisfaction. 
Bowing, sailing and fishing on the lakes and deer 
hunting on the mountains were our chief occupations. 
These we carried on Avitli success, and were it not for 
the consideration that deer and fish stories are little 
esteemed and seldom believed, I would be tempted to 
recount some of our thrilling adventures with rod and 
gun. 



CHAPTEB X. 

THE CLIMATE OF CALIFORNIA. 

From tlie time Helen Hunt Jackson wrote her 
famous articles to " The Century," to the present 
moment, poets, novelists, landlords and real-estate 
agents have sung the praises of Southern California. 
Medical authorities, too, of good repute, have accorded 
it a high place among the world's noted sanitaria. 
John Muir, the writer, referring to the banner valley 
of Southern California — the San Gabriel — says: 

"It is one of the brightest spots in all our fair 
land and most of its brightness is wildness — wild 
south sunshine in a basin rimmed about with moun- 
tains." Dr. Congar, a resident physician, says of this 
valley: 

" The geographical position is exactly right, soil 
and climate perfect, and everything that heart can 
wish comes for our efforts — flowers, fruits, milk and 
honey, and plenty of money." Dr. Chamberlain of 
Charity Hospital, New York, a more disinterested 
authority, says: 

" The long, bright days of Southern California, 
with unclouded sky, mild and even warmth and gentle 
winds, invite the invalid to live in open air and pro- 
tects him while there," 

Dr. Lindley of the " Southern California Univer- 
sity," vouches that he has " never known a child born 

149 



150 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

in Southern California of a phthisical parent to die of 
pulmonary disease. This is a paradise," he adds "for 
persons who have passed the meridian of life. Instead 
of spending most of their lives in rooms artificially 
heated, they get a new lease of life from the sun's 
rays, the pure atmosphere and inspiring surround- 
mgs. 

One of the great advantages of this southern climate 
is alleged to be the small difference between the mean 
temperature of the coldest and warmest parts of the 
year. For example : The difference between the mean 
temperature of January and July in New York is 
forty-six degrees, while this difference at Los Angeles 
is but eighteen degrees, at San Diego eight, Santa 
Monica seven, and Monterey six, the last three 
places being on the coast. These differences are 
indeed a marked contrast with those of Eastern cities, 
which, like Washington and St. Paul, hold their 
warm and cold months far apart, this difference 
being in the case of these two cities forty and 
fifty-seven degrees respectively. The Los Angeles 
signal service records show that, for six years, the 
coldest month of the year has an average temperature 
of fifty-two degrees and the warmest month about 
seventy degrees. 

This feature, so much dwelt upon by the zealous 
climatist, is plausible and worthy of due estimation by 
those seeking a more beneficent sky; but there are 
other facts and considerations which must be kejit in 
mind — qualifying as they do this theory of uniform 
temperature. It will be noticed that these places liav- 




FRUIT SCENE IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 



152 GEAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

ing sucli uniformity are, with the exception of Los 
Angeles, on the coast, and the latter is but eighteen 
miles inland. If it be desirable for people with dis- 
ordered lungs to live on or near the coast, then this 
theory of uniform temperature is especially pertinent. 
But as we move landward toward the interior valleys, 
this gulf between the warmest and coldest parts of the 
year materially widens. It is difficult to get statistics on 
the subject, since the records in these newer settle- 
ments, away from the direct ocean winds are limited or 
else entirely wanting. Besides, weather statistics are 
somewhat misleading in California, since, on account 
of the wide daily range of the thermometer, extremes 
in part offset each other, some portion of an excessive- 
ly hot day usually having an opposite excess of cold, 
which puts the day on record as one of moderate tem- 
perature, and secures a fair showing for the monthly 
average. We can also easily reason from analogy 
that this uniformity does not prevail in any such 
degree in the interior. The short distance of 
eighteen miles recession makes a difference of ten de- 
grees or more in the case of Los Angeles, and a con- 
siderable greater difference must maintain in the 
valleys still further removed from the tempering in- 
fluence of the trade winds. Adding: to this the re- 
suits of inland observations, personal experience, and 
the testimony of friends having longer periods of 
observation upon which to base opinion, and the neces- 
sary conclusion is reached that this uniformity of 
temperature in the interior is not so remarkable, but 
that the climate is at times continuously and exces- 




TROPIC FOLIAGE, COAST. 



154 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF TH^ WEST. 

sively hot. The dehiliiaiing effect of this condition can 
not be questioned. It made itself apparent as applied 
to those coming under my own observation as early as 
the month of March and was much commented upon by 
Eastern tourists. I find similar reports of other years 
— reports given by those who had no climatic invest- 
ments at stake and no interest in conveying false im- 
pressions of the country. 

The winters of Southern California are, without 
question, delightfully mild, and this seems to be its 
distinctive merit. Still there are others, who view the 
subject in a different light, refusing to recalcitrate 
against the exceeding mildness of the warmer months. 
This is the case with some permanent residents, who 
accept, in much the same spirit, the matchless glory of 
flowery winter and what the writer viewed as the sar- 
donic and vituperable " mildness " of recreant summer. 

The thermometer, skirmishing recklessly about 
among the nineties in the shade, and that too for many 
days in succession and as early as the month of March, 
as the writer has known to be the case, must at least 
modify some of the utopian representations of Southern 
California's faultless climate. The effect of this exces- 
sive heat was observed to be depressing to invalids and 
seriously prejudicial to their progress. 

In the San Joaquin Yalley, I found the heat even 
mo7'e oppressive than at the same time of year at the 
South. The reason for this is easily understood. The 
ocean winds (known among climatologists as the polar 
currents) in sweeping southward over Oregon and 
Northern California become more and more dessicated 



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of moisture as they advance over the dry soil of these 
regions. By the time they reach the San Joaquin 
Yalley, they have become almost completely deprived 
of moisture and heated to a high degree by contact 
with the plains. These hot winds from the north, 
however, being obstructed by the Tehachepi mountains 
or else meeting counter-currents from the south do 
not often afPect the southern part of the state. They 
seem content to let loose their fury in the larger val- 
leys at the north. Nothing therefore is gained in the 
way of comfort or benefit by emigrating to the plains 
beyond the Tehachepi mountains. 

The one dominating incentive of this chapter being 
the desire to present truthful information concern- 
ing the climate of California, for the benefit of tourists 
and climate-seekers from the East who are every year 
resorting hither, it will, I trust, be profitable to enter 
a little more into detail and sum up briefly and impar- 
tially as possible the results of the writer's investiga- 
tion of this subject. 

First as regards the coast. Here, for causes well 
understood, the temperature is notably uniform; but 
this uniformity does not necessarily make it the para- 
gon of resorts for the lung invalid. Nature, indeed, 
never leaves all her treasures in one place. Whenever 
there is a marked difference between the temperature 
of the Japan current (which skirts the coast of Cali- 
fornia) and the surrounding ocean, or when the 
northerly and southerly winds interlace their unequal 
temperatures, the result is seen in the vast volumes of 
fog which blow in upon the coast. In the spring these 



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fogB prevail nearly throughout the length of the state, 
while at San Francisco and other places north, they 
continue during the summer. The greater part o£ the 
coast country is, in fact, subject to them nearly three- 
fourths of the year. But even when these do not pre- 
vail, the air is much of the time charged with an excess 
of moisture. The average humidity, for the year, on 
the coast is seventy per cent., while sixty per cent, is 
the normal, and for diseased lungs a less degree 
than this is generally recommended. Hence, since 
fog is not produced till the air reaches one hun- 
dred per cent, humidity, it will be readily seen that, in 
the absence of fog, this excess of moisture may prove 
very prejudicial to the invalid — especially such as are 
afflicted with asthma or consumption, for the relief of 
which dry air is indispensable. It may be well to ob- 
serve, however, that Santa Barbara and Monterey, 
shielded as they are from the direct ocean winds by 
projecting headlands, and San Diego spared from fog 
by the recession of the Japan current, are held in much 
esteem as coast resorts. The southern coast is in fact 
less afflicted with a humid atmosphere than the north- 
ern. It seems, indeed, specially agreeable and bene- 
ficial to some constitutions, while to others it is posi- 
tively hazardous— personal idiosyncrasies doubtless 
accounting for these discordant results. Persons hav- 
ing a predilection for the seaside can easily visit some 
of the favored resorts of the coast and test their virtues 
as applied to the case in hand. In general, the humid- 
ity diminishes about one per cent, to every five miles 
recession to the eastward ; and thus it may be roughly 



THE CLIMATE OF CALIFORNIA. 159 

(and quite rouglily) estimated how far inland the pa- 
tient, sensitive to moist air, will find it advisable to 
locate. 

Now let us revert to the north and make a few 
wholesome comparisons. That the climate of Northern 
California has been the victim of many popular mis- 
apprehensions it is eminently safe to assert. There is, 
indeed, a current notion that Northern and Southern 
California are distinct entities — the one an insalubri- 
ous region of extreme heat and cold — the other a 
blooming paradise of tropical fruits and unfailing 
health. 

There is a cause for this false view. Those who 
come to California in the winter ( and most of the immi- 
gration thither is at that season) are in many cases 
impelled to steer toward the warmer zone and hence 
take the southern routes, visiting Los Angeles and 
vicinity first. Here a persistent effort is made to 
convince the tourist that throughout the north adverse 
elements prevail and that the only Elysium is South- 
ern California. As an illustration of this spirit to 
decry the north and extol the south, a citizen of 
Pasadena was one day vehemently setting forth to me 
the various objections to the climate of a certain 
northern city — berating it ad extremum. Accepting 
his representations, I logically and innocently asked, if 
he thought I would take many chances on my life, in 
breathing the air there, should I stop off between 
trains to see the town. Thereupon he suddenly turned 
the topic of conversation while bystanders, as sum- 
marily retired, their handkerchiefs, at the same time 



160 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

vigorously wrestling with tlie intractible muscles of 
the face. Notwithstanding this stampede I persisted in 
having my enquiry answered, insisting that it was ex- 
actly to the point. But for some reason I couldn't 
make him see it in that light, as he had now got his 
mind on the oat crops. 

The average Southern Calfornian, gradually catch- 
ing up the spirit and phraseology of the lucre-aspiring 
confreres of Autolycus, would have the Eastern tourist 
believe that a " Mason and Dixon's line " of climate 
separates Northern and Southern California. This is 
by no means true of all, but notably of those who spend 
much time within hearing-distance of the " boomers " 
or within reading-range of hotel and real estate litera- 
ture. 

As a matter of fact, from the parallel of San Diego, 
within two hours drive of Mexico, to that of Mt. 
Shasta, near the Oregon line, the same general char- 
acteristics of climate prevail. Great differences indeed 
exist along the parallels and almost any desired 
climate may be had by traveling due eastward from the 
coast. But moving north and south along the meri- 
dians, it would puzzle the most acute observer from 
abroad to state within three or four hundred miles 
where our good southern friends would draw the 
climate-line between the Eldorado of sunshine and the 
" inhospitable " North. The mean annual temperature 
along; the coast is the same for more than five hundred 
miles, while the mean summer temperature in this belt is 
the same for over eight hundred miles ; in fact greater 
differences of climate are often encountered in a single 



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162 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WESJ. 

day's drive from the coast eastward, than exist at the 
same time between Los Angeles and Puget's Sound,— 
a thousand miles apart. 

So, in the interior', the same general characteristics 
prevail throughout the state. The mean annual tem- 
perature at Redding, in the northern part of the Sac- 
ramento Valley, is almost precisely the same as that at 
Tulare in the southern part of the San Joaquin. The 
mean annual temperature of Sacramento, the coolest 
place in the Sacramento Yalley, is the same as that of 
Los Angeles, the coolest city in the valleys of Southern 
California. The great interior plains of the north have 
likewise no monopoly in summer heat. The same, 
somewhat mitigated, is incident to the south as well. 

Other features in common are equally suggestive. 
One of these is found in the circumstance that the 
north is presenting the same stages of development 
already witnessed at the south — illustrating the com- 
mon character of their climate and resources in a 
striking manner. In the early times we find Southern 
California given over to the dominant occupation of 
stock raising. Then followed the more profitable era 
of agriculture ; next the cultivation of tropical fruits ; 
and lastly, the cultivation of Quixotic prices — the lat- 
ter being based upon the alleged value created by su- 
perior climatic advantages for the invalid and home- 
seeker. These same evolutions are to-day unquestion- 
ably in progress at the north. The era of horticulture 
has for years been crowding close upon that of grazing 
and agriculture, and already the three industries are 
unmistakably wedded. The recent pomological dis- 



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164 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

plays, in which all kinds of citrus and other semi-trop- 
ical fruits grown at the north, were exhibited, have suffi- 
ciently evinced the horticultural resources of Northern 
California. Indeed the north has some advantages over 
the south in this respect, being able to largely dispense 
with irrigation and favored with the great center of 
population conveniently accessible. In nearly all the 
counties along the Sacramento River the orange and 
lemon are in a state of profitable cultivation, and even 
the olive, almond, fig, persimmon, English walnut and 
raisin are making rapid headway. In Butte County, 
nearly two hundred miles north from San Francisco, is 
one of the best citrus regions in the state ; and in Te- 
hama County, still further north, the largest, if not the 
most productive, vineyard in the world. Indeed there 
is scarcely a species of fruit of commanding importance 
at the south that is not being sucessfully cultivated 
in the foot-hills and valleys of Northern California. 
Some varieties succeed even better in the latter region. 
These considerations show the manifest absurdity of 
the distinction, in the accepted sense, of Northern and 
Southern California. 

As a retreat for invalids, especially those suffering 
from pulmonary complaints, without doubt more com- 
fort and benefit are realized, in the warmer months, in 
the northerly portions of the state. But here as else- 
where the convalescent must exercise judgment. It 
would hardly be advisable, at least during the summer 
months, to take up quarters on the plains of either the 
Sacramento or San Joaquin Yalley. On the other 
hand, notwithstanding there are those who delight in 



THE CLIMATE OF CALIFORNIA. 165 

pitching their fortunes high np among the snows of the 

Sierras, it is doubtful if the health-seeker should locate 

much if any above the line of four thousand feet equal 

elevation — the line drawn by topographers between 

the secondary foot-hills and the great timber belt of 

the Sierras. 

But between these extremes of heat and cold — the 

low plains and the high Sierras — may be found — not 
the superb hotels of less deserving resorts — but dry 
bracing breezes freighted with health and healing. 
The whole country embraced between the alluvial lands 
of the vallevs and the line of four thousand feet ele- 
vation just referred to, a territory at least twenty thou- 
sand square miles in area, is a region possessing re- 
markable sanative properties for the relief of pulmo- 
nary troubles. In the western foot-hills of the Coast 
Range similar conditions are also to be found — in 
either region the primary foot-hills (below the line of 
two thousand feet elevation) being perhaps most desir- 
able for the average invalid. 

It should here be observed that the foot-hills and 
valleys of the Sierras and Coast Range possess a vari- 
ety of climatic conditions, owing to peculiar configura- 
tions in the mountains, the proximity of snow-capped 
peaks and the course of the winds. In the region of 
the "Thermal Belt" however, the climate seeker is 
reasonably secure from adverse influences. This ther- 
mal belt is a warm zone existing at a moderate altitude 
and nearly surrounding the great interior valley. 

It is also here in place to note the fact that no cli- 
mate is to be found on the Pacific coast that can prom- 



166 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

ise much to those in the advanced stages of consump- 
tion. But those upon whom the disease is not deeply 
rooted find great relief and often complete recovery. 
There is nothing inherent in the atmosphere, as some 
would seem to infer, that is proof against troubles of 
a phthisical nature. The native white population in- 
deed enjoys remarkable immunity from these afflic- 
tions, but investigation shows that among the native 
Spaniards, lung diseases (especially consumption) are 
very common and yearly on the increase. But this 
stiange inconsistency is not allowed to go unexplained. 
Close inter-marriages, sudden change in mode of life 
since the supremacy of the white population, and the 
depraved and wretched condition in which the average 
native lives, are the alleged causes of these startling 
developments. Still this straw points to an important 
factor among the remedial influences which add celeb- 
rity to health-resorts and at the same time furnishes 
a timely and suggestive hint of much value to the con- 
valescent. It shows the paramount importance of 
looking well to other conditions as well as those of 
climate. The locality, the temperature and elevation 
may all be right, but if other sanitary precautions are 
ii^nored, these a-re of little avail. The luxurious win- 
ters of Southern California; the three hundred days 
of coveted sunshine which bless the year in almost 
every part of the State ; the recruiting winds that fan 
the valleys and hill-sides — these are all futile in the 
absence of personal care. This care should be exer- 
cised in making the immediate surroundings whole- 
some and inviting, wearing suitable apparal, avoid- 




HAUNTS OF THE TROUT. 



168 



GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 



ing exposure to damp air and chilling winds ; in lo- 
cating, if possible, apart from those having kindred 
ailments, securing well-prepared and palatable food, 
pleasant scenery, cheerful associations and an open 
air life. To these should be added, agreeable employ- 
ment, judicious recreation with horse and rod and gun, 
or, indeed, any well-chosen means of exercise condu- 
cive to normal appetite, free respiration and a con- 
tented frame of mind. In the pacific and antiseptic 
air of this western coast, thus supplemented by these 
and similar precautions and expedients, there is un- 
doubted virtue. The patient over whom the wasting 
disease has not gained ascendancy has many reasons 
for entertaining good cheer and hope, and confidently 
looking forward to renewed health and happiness. 




CHAPTEE XI. 

THE CITY OF THE SAINTS. 

After so long and delightful a sojourn in the sunny 
land of Proteus, it was with somewhat of reluctance 
that we entertained the thought of leaving the scene 
of so many pleasing and inspiring associations. But 
even the gods do not always hover about Olympus, and 
so in our case it seemed advisable to break loose from 
these attractions and this novel paradise to which Uncle 
Sam holds title on the Pacific Coast. 

Leaving San Francisco by the way of the Central 
Pacific, we passed through the productive valley of the 
Sacramento to the capital city, whence, after a brief 
stop, we proceeded to climb the Sierras on the iron 
rail, and soon found ourselves at Auburn, a charming 
village among the foothills. The first verse of Gold- 
smith's " Village," slightly paraphrased, admirably 
applies to this place — it being only necessary to sub- 
stitute the word "foothills" for "plain." Here we 
laid over one day, taking the sleeper the following 
night en route for Ogden and the Salt Lake region. 

It seemed a pity to ride over the Sierras by night, 

and thus be deprived of seeing the wild and rugged 

scenery which friends and guide-books informed us to 

be highly interesting ; but we were in part consoled by 

the reflection that we had already enjoyed more than 

an average dose of mountain wonders, and fell to sleep 

169 



170 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

in good conscience. Our night journey took us by the 
famous mountain pass, " Cape Horn," where it is said 
the passenger is able, by extending his arm from the 
window, to drop a stone half a mile perpendicular into 
the canon below. But we rode over those frightful 
precipices and terrifying chasms without rigidity of 
the scalp or an extra thump of the heart. 

In this night journey we also passed near by the 
celebrated lakes on the summit of the Sierras — Lake 
Tahoe, Donner and Webber — resorts much frequented 
and possessing, it is said, fine scenic attractions. These 
places are reached by short side tracks from the main 
line, being easily accessible. Not having personally 
visited them, the best I can do is to give the reader a 
panoramic view of these novel sheets of water high up 
in the firmament. 

After breakfasting at Reno, a town of over four 
thousand inhabitants just over the line in Nevada and 
the gateway to the famous Comstock mines, we speeded 
eastward through the great Nevada desert. This 
appeals to every sense as an abandoned and desolate 
region — nothing in the form of vegetable life cheer- 
ing the eye, except the artemisia or sage-bush, and 
nothing in the animal kingdom but lizards and jack- 
rabbits. 

The nomenclature of this region is quite descrip- 
tive —" Desert," "Hot Springs," "Mirage," "White 
Plains," " Winnemucca," "Piute," and other station 
names equally novel but with applications less appar- 
ent. The prepossession, more and more confirmed, 
that we are in a land of desolation without agricultural 






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172 GEAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

possibilities, is modified by the cheering oasis at Hum- 
boldt, the dinner station, and especially by the phe- 
nomena which, after a ride of thirty hours through 
the forbidding country, presents itself in the fertile 
valley of the Mormons. 

After a short lay-off at Ogden, which ^vas made still 
shorter by the satisfying employment of reinstating 
the inner man, made sensibly vacuitous by the desert 
ride, we transferred to the " scenic route " — the 
Denver & Rio Grande — and are soon brought to the 
world-renowned " City of the Saints." 

In the way of natural scenery there are many 
objects of interest in the vicinity of Salt Lake City, 
prominent among which is the great Salt Lake itself — 
a sheet of such notoriety that one would scarcely wish 
to pass it without examining its peculiar saline and 
anti-sinking properties. This we visited several times, 
daily excursions making it conveniently accessible by 
rail, a distance of thirteen miles from the city. It was, 
however, rather too cold for comfort, the best time for 
bathing being in July and August. 

North of the city the Mount of Prophecy, which 
towers with dignified grace, furnishes the best lookout 
upon the valley. From its oval summit the observer 
looks down upon the silvery waters of the Dead Sea at 
the west, and below, at the south, sees the City of the 
Saints and the beautiful valley of Jordon. The latter 
is hemmed in by the Oquirrh Mountains on the west, 
and the Wasatch on the east, altogether presenting a 
picture of true sublimity. At the east also there is an 
opening in the mountains, and in this direction Camp 



174 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

Douglass, happily situated on a bench at the base of 
the mountain, overlooks the city. Below this camp is 
the famous Emigration Canon, threading its way be- 
tween the mountains. This is historic ground, being 
the place where Brigham Young and the " Pioneer 
Band " entered the valley, and in fact the beaten track 
through which the long train of emigrant turnouts 
filed their way westward in the early days. A history 
of those times that did not recount the sentimental 
events occurring in this canon would indeed be a vara 
avis of its kind. 

Close by is Parley's Canon and Parley's Park. 
These places are so named from Parley Pratt, a zeal- 
ous Mormon, who had six wives besides Mrs. Hector 
McLean, whom he converted and with whom he ab- 
sconded. For his greed on this occasion he received 
his reward in this world by being carved into sliced 
bacon with a bowie knife wielded by the enraged hus- 
band, and in tlif next by being enrolled among the 
" Glorious Martyrs " to the Mormon faith. 

Beyond this park, to the south, are a succession of 
interesting places — South Mill Creek and Cottonwood 
Canon, Silver Mountain, the well-known Flag-staff, 
North Star and Emma Mines, and, still further on, 
grand old Mount Nebo, twelve thousand feet high. 

Weber, Echo and American Fork canons are all 
in the vicinity and noted places of interest easily 
reached. 

More than a decade and a half ago an observant 
American writer said, "Ten years hence, scarcely a 
relic of polygamy and the patriarchal system will 




175 



176 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

remain." The fulfillment of this bold prophecy surely 
can not be claimed, and especially when made to apply 
to the visible institutions of this polygamous order of 
saints. For it is their works that to-day astonish the 
stranger who, for leagues away, espies the mysterious 
prodigies of their architectural skill looming up in the 
midst of a desert country, as if called into being by a 
Druid's wand. These imposing edifices overtop the 
city itself in most suggestive proportions, dispelling all 
doubt as to relics of the patriarchal system. 

Proceeding to make a closer inspection of the 
remarkable structures which so rivited our attention 
in the distance, and which we found mainly located in 
Temple Block, in a prominent part of the city, we 
were at once confronted by a mammoth temple, old in 
story but new in aspect. This has already been in 
process of erection for over thirty - five years, and 
though still not complete, has nearly reached the de- 
signed height of ninety-nine feet. Its massive walls 
are from seven to nine feet thick, and are composed of 
solid granite of a superior quality, hewn out of the 
neighboring mountains. The Temple is intended for 
the mystic rites now performed in the Endowment 
House, and not for regular public service. The out- 
side world must therefore be content to regale the 
senses upon its external beauty, blissfully ignorant of 
the Elusinian mysteries within. 

The windows are very peculiar, those of the second 
and fourth stories being circular and the keystone over 
each having a star set in bold relief. Circular bosses 
on the sides are adorned with suns, moons and stars, 




12 



178 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

and, it is said, maps of the world are to be added in 
other places. The cost of the building, by the most 
conservative calculation, has already reached two mill- 
ion dollars, while estimates run from this up to fifteen 
millions; but such matters are usually overdrawn. 
Probably at least another million will be required for 
its completion, although work appears at present to be 
practically suspended. 

Close by in Temple Block is a clumsy, but very 
impressive structure two hundred and fifty feet long 
by one hundred and fifty wide. This is the Taber- 
nacle. It holds aloft an immense roof, resembling (as 
the janitor informed us) a vast boat turned bottom 
side up. This roof is supported by forty-six pillars of 
red cut sandstone, six feet square, ten feet high, and 
extending around the whole building. In the centre 
the roof is sixty-five feet above the floor. The janitor 
showed us its wonderful acoustic properties by drop- 
ping a pin at one end of the building, while the com- 
pany remained at the other, the sound being distinctly 
heard by all. It is said, however, that between these 
points sounds become so blended that hearing is not 
such a luxury as might be inferred from the success 
of this experiment. 

The great organ, we were told by the guide, has 
twenty-eight hundred pipes and fifty-seven stops. It 
is forty-eight feet high, thirty-six deep, thirty-three 
wide, and alleged to be next to the largest in America. 
The Tabernacle seats ten thousand, while thirteen 
thousand have been accommodated. In front of the 
organ and the rostrum are three descending seats, the 



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180 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

upper having been formerly occupied by Brigham 
Young, the next by apostles, and the lower by high 
priests. 

The Endowment House, concerning the mysteries 
of which there has been so much speculation, is situ- 
ated in Temple Block, northwest of the new Taberna- 
cle, being located in the same quarter of the block 
with the old Tabernacle. 

Assembly Hall, a more modern structure, with min- 
arets tastefully adorning the outer edges of its roof, is 
just south of the Tabernacle, and furnishes a very con- 
venient building for the transaction of business and 
the holding of meetings not largely attended. Its 
inside walls are elaborately illustrated with scenes of 
Mormon history and achievement. 

Leaving Temple Block by the south exit, through 
a turreted adobe wall twelve feet high, we find our- 
selves on South Temple street, a noted Mormon ave- 
nue. Passing a few rods eastward we cross East 
Temple street and come to Prophets' Block, directly 
east of Temple Block. At the nearest corner is an 
antiquated building which constituted the old Mor- 
mon store, and is now devoted to the " Deseret News "' 
and other Mormon publications. East of this is the 
Tithing House and Court, and a little further on the 
Lion and Bee-hive houses, where Brigham Young 
manasred his conclave of concubines. Over the Bee- 
hive House is an emblematic bee-hive carved in stone. 
Some have interpreted this as symbolic of the annual 
swarming of progeny, but inquiry quickly dispels the 




SCENES IN THE NEVADA DESERT. 



182 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

hallucination, as it will be promptly explained as typi- 
fying industry. 

Eagle Gate, just east of the Bee-hive, is a name 
applied to the entrance to City Creek Canon, which is 
reached by passing under an immense arch surmounted 
by an eagle, carved in wood. This canon furnishes 
the source of water supply for the city. Just north of 
these hot-beds of polygamy is the Kimball Block, the 
premises consisting of one lai'ge dwelling and several 
smaller ones, once owned by the late Heber C. Kim- 
ball, of Mormon fame, who had seventeen wives. Just 
across the way from the Bee-hive is the Amelia Palace, 
named in honor of Brigham's favorite Amelia. This 
was for a long time the finest residence between the 
Pacific coast and the Missouri River. 

Zion's Co-operative Mercantile Institute, the name 
applied to the present Mormon store, is a really cred- 
itable building, combining beauty and utility in a 
degree seldom attained in Mormon architecture. 

Salt Lake City is about four thousand, three liun- 
dred feet above sea level and was laid out in 1847, 
just before the gold excitement in California. Each 
street is one hundred and thirty-two feet wide, each 
block forty rods square, containing ten acres each. 
There are nine squares to each ward. Many of the 
buildings are of adobe brick. The yards are well kept, 
most of them being decorated with various kinds of 
shrubbery, trees and flowers. 

To one riding through long stretches of the desert 
region, the sight of green vegetation, fruitful orchards, 
floral lawns and tasty dwellings can scarcely fail to 



184 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OP THE WEST. 

awaken emotion and elicit praise, if not applause — 
these cheerful manifestations so strangely contrasting 
with the desolate solitudes in such close proximity. 
Even more must this have been the case in early times 
when the overland immigrant, after weeks and months 
of weary travel through arid desert and rugged canon, 
constantly menaced by the savagery of man and 
beast and the hostile elements of nature, first 
caught sight of this cheering oasis in his restless 
march to the interior. For nearly a quarter of a century 
Salt Lake City was the only place of importance be- 
tween the Mississippi Valley and the Pacific Slope — 
practically the only relief station on the way. Its 
streets aligned with refreshing streams of running 
water, its verdant lawns and neat cottages, its weird 
scenery of mountain and plain, its mysterious religious 
atmosphere and peculiar people — these, in connection 
with the peculiar frame of mind in which the average 
immigrant approached its borders, have seldom failed to 
invest the region with something more than a tinsel 
of enchantment. 

One thing was especially impressive to the writer 
and that was the orderly conduct of the inhabitants 
and the commendable business-like manner which pre- 
vailed. The signs of culture, however, are not so 
marked, while the average female is not conspicuously 
prepossessing. The children are orderly on the street, 
and very reticent as to all matters pertaining to their 
religion. " I don't know " is the stereotyped reply, at 
times accompanied by a significant twinkle of the eye 
which says: "I do know all the same, but you are 



THE CITY OF THE SAINTS. 



185 



not going to get any tales from me." We did not, in- 
deed, obtain but one really instructive piece of inform- 
ation from tlie rising generation, and that Avas from a 
bright boy of twelve summers, who, in response to our 
enquiries replied with a glow of sentiment: " Brigham 
Young -was my grandfather, but he was an awful 
scoundrel." 




CHAPTEE XII. 
IN PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE. 

The visitor who tarries at Salt Lake City for any 
considerable length of time discovers upon close obser- 
vation and careful study, a dual condition. The one 
phase is so unlike the other, he is almost persuaded 
that two distinct cities occupy the same ground. 
The exterior one is the pride of both citizen and 
tourist. Of the other we will speak with cau- 
tion; still it exists and for convenience might be 
called indoor as distinguished from outdoor Mormon- 
dom. Yery few tourists, owing to the difficulties and 
uncertainties attending the undertaking, enter its for- 
bidding labyrinths. They are as a rule content to 
view the mammoth buildings of " the saints," watch 
the flowing streams that bound their broad avenues, or 
regale the senses upon the sweet odors of their floral 
gardens ; but to enter the precincts of the less material 
city within, and study its make-up, there seems little 
disposition. But to the writer the indoor exhibition 
has proved quite as interesting if not so meritorious. 

The reader may infer that I have been exploring 
the mysteries of the '^ Endowment house" and the 
Freemasonry of Mormonism. Nothing of the kind; 
but rather the more vital mysteries of their creed and 
its influence on social and domestic life. Despite the 
perplexities of the undertaking it seemed desirable 

i86 



IN PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE. 187 

to catch a glimpse, if possible, of the inspiring and 
controlling forces behind the fair outside and learn 
something of indoor Mormonism. Surely such a great 
institution with such colossal and costly structures, 
attractive exteriors and magnificent environments must 
have some grand purpose or high mission — some great 
truth or sublime thought — to offer. This was what I 
was anxious to study — the intellectual animus — the 
mode of thinking — the highest thought — in a word the 
soul of Mormonism. Without detailing the difficulties 
in the way of one's efforts to probe for the supposed 
treasure, it is sufficient to say that no opportunity was 
neglected to interview dignitaries of the church of 
" The Saints," in order to get at the true inwardness 
of the Mormon theocracy and the source of its inspira- 
tion. 

The first officer interviewed was freely communi- 
cative and fully prepared to unfold the history and 
doctrines of the sect, but unfortunately so entirely 
averse to hearing anyone talk but himself that ques- 
tions received but scant consideration. This first tedi- 
ous and profitless interview was supplemented by others 
equally fruitless, so far as concerned the end desired. 
Yet all might be considered instructive as presenting 
different phases of Mormon character and showing up 
the mental calibre of the Mormon hierarchy, in neither 
of which was anything specially refreshing to be de- 
tected, unless it were a certain passing civility and 
plausible manner of discourse. Eecent events have 
seemed to make Mormons unusually suspicious. Hav- 
ing accomplished nothing to the purpose thus far, it 



188 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

occurred to me that I had better try one of the Evan- 
gelists, of whose whereabouts I had been apprised, 
knowing that if I posed as a seeker for light his pe- 
culiar mission would necessitate a considerate regard 
for my enquiries, especially if presented in the form 
of doubts and perplexities. I had, therefore, renewed 
confidence in my enterprise and with good courage 
called at his place. Here I was welcomed by a really 
creditable representative of his order, judging from 
appearances. After certain preliminary conversation, 
in which I was careful to preserve the mood of one in 
sympathy with his surroundings, I observed: " Now, 

Mr. R , you have, without doubt, already detected 

that I am a Gentile, and somewhat in the dark as to 
your doctrines and practices. Being a reverent searcher 
after truth, I feel special interest in this subject, and 
have a great desire to know more about Mor monism." 

In a tone and manner indicating that he was at my 
service, the evangelist, who seemed to be fully loaded 
for the occasion, replied : 

" My dear sir, I can fully appreciate your attitude. 
It is just what mine was before I became connected 
with the Mormon Church. I never condemed anything 
without a hearing, and was always open to conviction. 
I have been a protestant, a Catholic, an infidel, and, 
lastly, a Mormon ; and even to-day, if you can show 
me that science, philosophy, reason, common-sense and 
inspiration are not all in support of Mormonism, I will 
renounce it." 

" But, Mr. II , you understand I am not here to 

convert you to any other creed, but to be enlightened." 



33 



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190 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

Evangelist : " Yes, I see ; everything indicates 
this, and I heartily commend the attitude you take. 
Well, I will say Mormonism is the exponent of all 
wisdom. Nothing ever was or can be known, more 
than Mormonism teaches. It embraces all o£ past and 
all of future knowledge. It is a complete system of 
morality, of religion, science, ethics and philosophy, 
and embraces all of wisdom past and future, known or 
knowable." 

Disciple: "Well, if that's so, I have no objections 
to Mormonism ; you may safely count on another con- 
vert. A religion that embraces those features is good 
enough for me." 

Evangelist: " Yes, and I will go further (lighting 
up with new enthusiasm) ; if you can show me any- 
thing in the Scriptures that is anti-Mormon, or that 
I can not show to be consistent with or explainable by 
our creed, I will also renounce my faith." 

Disciple: "I declare! that's strange language. 
It really looks as if you Mormons were on the right 
track." 

Evangelist : " Why ! I know we are. Scripture 
says ; ' Ye shall know ' — have positive assurance — 
and this we claim to have. ' Take, for example, even 
the question of plural marriage, over which Christians 
have raised such a hullaballoo: While the Old and 
the New Testaments do not deal specifically with the 
matter, what is said is, on the whole, in favor of the 
system. As Mr. Stillman said, a few years ago, in 
Boston [at the same time pointing out the passage 
in a Mormon tract which lay on the table and which 



IN PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE. 



191 



he requested me to keep] : ' There is not a single pre- 
cept in the book known as the Holy Bible, supposed 
by Christians to be the inspired word of God and the 



-/<'■.'• -TTp' aRBf'' ■■-. ;','■! -'■^'■'-; '> '-/••f 




SEEKING INFORMATION. 



rule of conduct for all mankind, wherein the institu- 
tion of polygamy is denounced or even spoken of with 
disapprobation.' " 

Disciple : '^ But in this day and age of the world, 



192 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

do you think it advisable for one to take upon his 
hands more than one wife ? Is this really the best 
solution of the marriage question?" 

Evangelist: "I can answer that to your utmost 
satisfaction, and you will say I am right. You know, 
if you are posted in this matter, that more females 
reach the age of twenty than males. The former are 
not so much exposed — are not subjected to so many 
hazards. According to the Massachusetts reports, we 
find twenty-one per cent, more females than males. 
You understand that war and such causes sweep off 
the male population. Besides this, men do not marry 
as readily as women. Business, vice, love of freedom 
and other causes deter men from matrimony. So that 
many (I might, perhaps, say most) do not marry till 
from thirty to thirty-five, and very many not till thirty- 
eight or forty; while women are eligible at twenty, 
and most women are married at twenty-five, if at all. 
All in all, there are two females eligible to marriage 
to one male, and the only way the former can be prop- 
erly cared for is by our system of plural marriage. 
Mormons do not often have more than two wives. 
Some have three or four, and even as high as seven 
and eight. Brigham Young really had but eighteen, 
though more than this has been attributed to him. 
The one that made him so much trouble was probably 
never duly confirmed. As a matter of fact, the hus- 
band, in many cases, is little more than a curator of 
those who are placed under his protection as wives. 
Our plural system of marriage is veritably a benign 
provision of our religion, since it cares for those who 



IN PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE. 193 

would otherwise be thrown upon the world defense- 
less and helpless." 

Disciple : " Well, really, it's hard for women to be 
left to the world's doubtful mercy, and in this view it 
would seem that a man, to be ' square ' with the female 
race, should be a Mormon. But I have read statistics 
that show, taking the country as a whole, both west 
and east, that the number of men about equals that of 
women ; and I am told that here in Utah there are 
fully as many men as women, and that, of the two, the 
men are more anxious to get wives than the women are 
to get husbands. Now when several thousand polyga- 
mists get two or more wives and the priests and elders 
of the church get five or six (or perhaps ten or a 
dozen) of the most eligible of the females, really isn't 
it some of the men that are going to get left out in the 
cold ? " 

Seeing that my expounder of the faith looked 
puzzled, I continued : 

" But is the paragon of domestic felicity attained 
by this practice ? I should suppose a man's wife 
would recalcitrate, or ' kick,' as the boys say, when she 
sees another woman coming into the house." 

Evangelist : " Well, I can tell you about that" 
[recovering his original self-possession]. "Formerly 
it was necessary to get the consent of the first wife, 
and all preceding, when a new one was taken ; but 
now, on account of the persecutions to which Mormons 
are being subjected, the church sanctions marriages 
without the consent of previous wives. In many cases, 
indeed, the first or antecedent wives know nothing of 
13 



194: GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

the existence of others taken later. For example, I 
have now in mind a man in this city who has a wife 
here, one in Provo, and still another at another place, 
and not one of these knows of the existence of the 
others. The church now sanctions these concealed 
unions on account of its persecutions. A jealous wife, 
for instance, might make disclosures which would sub- 
ject the innocent husband to the penalties of unright- 
eous laws." 

Disciple : " Do you think the Edmunds law of 
1882, and the still more stringent Edmunds-Tucker 
law of 1887, are materially affecting polygamy? From 
reports it would seem that these federal enactments 
had crowded Mormons rather hard." 

Evangelist: "In one sense they have, perhaps, 
since, after the passage of these laws a large number 
of the most conscientious Mormons, including a good 
many high officers of the church, rather than be un- 
true to their convictions and to escape persecution, 
fled from the country, or at least retired from this city. 
There are, however, temporary set-backs to all true 
religious progress, but in our case these reverses are 
more apparent than real. You see, Gentiles are not 
in a position to know the actual state of things. As I 
said before, concealed marriages are now permitted, 
and really our cause is going right on, only less 
openly." 

Seeing, on the part of my instructor a little show 
of reluctance to talk on these delicate topics, and fear- 
ing that I was prying too much into family affairs for 



IN PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE. 



195 



the success of my experiment, I turned the subject by 
observing : 

"Now, professor, when quite a young boy I remem- 
ber of reading with great interest the original revela- 
tion of Joseph Smith, or a part of it at least, and I 
think it said somewhere that a man should have only 
one wife." 




THE TEMPLE 



Evangelist: "Exactly! It says: 'There shall 
not any man among you have save it be one wife, 
and concubines he shall have none; for I, the Lord 
God, delighteth in the chastity of woman.' But under- 
stand this was all done away with by the later revela- 
tion, authorizing plural marriage." 



196 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OP THE WEST. 

Disciple: "I know; so I had heard. But when 
the later revelation came out, you know the people 
made a great fuss about it, and said they would not 
accept, as it contradicted the first revelation, and they 
thought it scandalous. When Brigham Young and 
Joseph Smith saw what an uproar the new doctrine 
was creating, you know they came out and publicly 
declared that no such new revelation had been received 
authorizing polygamy." 

Evangelist: " I see your difficulty and will explain. 
When the second revelation was made, enjoining celes- 
tial marriage, it was seen by the president and his 
counselors that the people were not prepared for the 
new doctrine, and hence it seemed advisable to keep 
the new revelation concealed until the people could be 
educated to it." 

Disciple: " But was it right for Brigham Young 
to tell the people that no such revelation had been 
received when it was found unpopular? " 

Evangelist: " Most assuredly ! Anything is right 
that enhances the glory of the Lord. We have this 
revelation: ' Under certain circumstances the Lord 
allows the priesthood to lie in order to save his peo- 
ple.' It is as when parents deceive their children when 
they seek to know things unsuited to their age, don't 
you see?" 

Disciple : " Well, Mr. B , you are posted to a 

letter on your religion. I certainly couldn't have hit 
upon any one better able to enlighten me. But, can- 
didly, wouldn't it seem that the Lord ought not to 
have given the revelation until the people were ready 



IN PUllSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE. 



197 




THE TABERNACLE. 



for it ? Then the priests and ekiers woukhi't have been 
placed under the necessity of telling any lies." 

Evangelist: " But we can not question the motives 
of the Almighty, and it is not for us to pass judgment 
upon his methods. His ways are not our ways." 

Disciple : " But I would like to inquire *a little 
further, if I am not encroaching too much upon your 
time," 



198 GEAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST, 

Evangelist: " Certainly not. This is my business, 
and I am only too glad to have questions asked and 
see people interested in our religion. What had you 
specially in mind ? " 

Disciple : "At the time of the reformation in '55 
and '56 you know it's a matter of history that young 
girls of a dozen years of age were enticed or forced to 
marry ; that women were divorced and remarried almost 
daily, and that even the elders and others in high 
official rank exchanged wives, or what amounted to that 
— the divorce from one meaning marriage to another. 
Now the question is : Does the church of to-day 
approve of such things ? I am told there is nothing 
in your code that even prevents a father from marry- 
ing his own daughter, and that a man often does marry 
a mother and her daughter or two sisters, and that 
there is one case here Avhere a man actually married 
three generations — daughter, mother and grandmother. 
How about these things — are they considered proper 
now ? " 

Evangelist : " These things have been exagger- 
ated; but so long as all marriages and divorces have 
to be confirmed by the church and thus receive the 
sanction of the Almighty, there can be no danger of 
going wrong in these matters. Our ideas of morality 
and right must not be set up against those of the 
Almighty. This is a common error. The Lord estab- 
lishes the conditions of right and wrong. We have 
nothing to do with this." 

Disciple : " Well ! upon my word, professor, I 



IN PUESUIT OF KNOWLEDGE. 



199 




BEE HIVE HOUSE. 



never saw a man clear np dark spots in the way you 
do. Do yon think I would make a good Mormon ? " 

Evangelist : " Most assuredly, and if you wish to 

* • t") 

jom 

Disciple : " But one word, doctor, while I think of 
it. You know Joseph Smith received two revelations 
— the first prohibiting polygamy, the second permit- 
ting it. Now, was the first revelation a bogus one ? 
Of course, one or the other of these revelations must 
have been a false one, since, when two things contra- 
dict each other, only one can be true. In one case it 
says it is not lawful to have more than one wife, in the 



200 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

other it says it is lawful ; so that it must be Smith 
was not inspired on one or the other of these occasions. 
How is that ? " 

Evangelist : " Here is where our adversaries fall 
into a gross error. The original revelation was given 
by the Holy Spirit and was just as truly inspired as 
the second one, but when a new revelation is made 
contradicting a former one, the new supplants the old 
— a new dispensation is inaugurated and former things 
are no more." 

Disciple: "Really, doctor, I am surprised at your 
facility in straightening out these difficulties ; but it 
does seem that the Almighty, who sees the end from 
the beginning, would have had the discretion not to 
spring a doctrine upon his people so prematurely, and 
thus stir up so much bad blood among them." 

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE GODS. 

Evangelist : " Ah ! here is where you stumble by 
not understanding the mystery of creation and the 
nature of the Gods. We believe in the eternity of 
matter, the transmission of spirits, the evolution of 
spirit from refined matter, and in one sense a plurality 
of Gods. When you come to understand these mys- 
teries you will not raise such questions. Further, we 
have a doctrine which might be termed ' The develop- 
ment of the Gods.' An understanding of this doctrine 
would especially clear up this difficulty." 

Reflecting to myself that gods who do such things 
ought to be further developed, or rather, radically 
reformed, I continued the inquest — all the while 



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202 GEAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

maintaining a spirit of entire satisfaction with liis eru- 
dition — though constantly troubled by some new and 
unexplained difficulty. 

Disciple : "But Mr. E , here is a thing that 

greatly bothers me. Scripture says (and you tell me 
this is authority with you) that ' God can not lie.' Now 
if he is this infallible and righteous Being supposed, 
it would really seem that he could not be so thought- 
less as to give! his beloved priesthood a revelation that 
would necessitate their violating his commandments. 
It also says : ' There shall in no wise enter into it 
(the kingdom of heaven) anything that defileth, neither 
whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie,' and 
'All liars shall have their part in the lake' and so 
forth. Now, in all candor, professor, does it seem 
right to you that the Almighty should place his ser- 
vants in a position where they were forced to lie, and 
then mete out terrible punishment to them hereafter 
for so doing ? " 

Evangelist : [With sudden emphasis] " But you 
see we are no judges of these mysteries. Probably all 
falsehoods told for his glory will be forgiven in the 
next world. You see we ought not to talk about things 
so far beyond us." 

Disciple : " Well, doctor, I w^ant to study this a 
little more. I am not quite clear. You understand I 
don't wish to be hasty and would like to give the sub- 
ject more thought. Now as I have taken up a good 
deal of your time I wish to express my great gratitude 
for your pains and the instructive information you 
have imparted." 



IN PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE. 



208 



So saying, I took friendly leave of the voluble, but 
not over discreet, yet thoroughly indoctrinated Evan- 
gel, who, at the same time, handed forth a number of 
tracts that would enable me to become a Mormon on 
an approved plan. 

Such are the sophistries and absurdities of Mor- 
monism. A religious sect that reduces the supreme 
being to the low intellectual and moral level of a men- 
dacious and dissolute human nature is certainly not 
too good to reduce woman to the basest slavery, or too 
patriotic to array itself in opposition to wholesome 
moral restraints and in defiance of just laws. 







CHAPTEE XIII. 

STATEHOOD FOR UTAH. 

In my effort to study the influence of the " Mormon 
idea" on the home, I have found everything so 
pledged to secrecy that nothing very demonstrative 
could be gathered from actual observation. Hence, 
nearly all the information gleaned in this direction has 
been from the testimony of others. For this reason I 
have no desire to detail the uncanny revelations of 
Mormon domestic life ; but if half the stories of the 
agony and heartburn of Mormon wives and mothers be 
true, and there is much reason to believe the half has 
not been told, we can not wonder at the righteous in- 
dignation which prompted Miss Carmichael to say, ' If 
I were a man as I am a woman, I would stand in the 
halls of congress and cry aloud for the miserable 
women of Utah till the world should hear and know 
the wrongs and miseries of polygamy." 

But one of the most significant specimens of "in- 
door" Mor monism is the recent clamor for statehood. 
This scheme was started over two years ago, and in 
spite of all the discouragements and set-backs which 
their cause has received, the Mormon leaders seem as 
noisy as ever for "equality of rights" among the 
states. The average Mormon is especially insistant 
about having his "rights," but none have yet been 

discovered who were willing to receive their just de- 

204 



STATEHOOD FOR UTAH. 



205 



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serts. Their " rights " being generally defined by 
revelation from on high, are dangerous to trifle Avitli. 

Some features of this movement for getting into 
the union are most remarkable and worthy of study. 



206 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

Since the passage of the Edmunds law Mormons have 
found themselves too closely crowded for comfort and 
have become extremely apprehensive for the safety of 
their cherished creed. In this dilemma a new idea 
struck the Mormon camp like one of Jove's fresh- 
forged thunderbolts. It seemed to occur to the whole 
body politic of Mormondom, all at once, at a bound 
and without warning, that the territory must be con- 
verted into a state and this without delay. It was 
whispered around among the " saints": " We will be 
better off as a state than under the present territorial 
laws that so interfere with our ' rights.' We can then 
elect our own governor and dictate more or less as to 
our judges and juries and control nearly all the offices 
of power ; and then these accursed Gentiles can't 
make us so much trouble. Yes, statehood ! that's the 
thing — that will help us out — that's the best thing 
devised yet and we'll have it or die." 

So, without discussing the matter through the press 
or in any way advising with the non-Mormon element, 
they organized a "People's party," and, like the tra- 
ditional spider, invited the Democrats and Republicans 
of the Gentile persuasion to join them in their efforts 
to secure statehood for Utah. But the motives of the 
scheme were too patent and their proposal was as prompt- 
ly rejected as it had been suddenly conceived. The Gen- 
tile committees of both parties also had the courage to 
offer in their replies to the bold proposition of their 
presumptuous opponents a few well-directed sugges- 
tions and as many more instructive reflections on their 
course and conduct. But au "all-wool" Mormon is 



STATEHOOD FOR UTAH. 



207 




AMELIA PALACE 



never silenced when his "rights" are at stake. Not- 
withstanding the poor consolation which the cause thus 
received at home and the scant encouragement it has 
since had from the federal government, these religio- 
political operators still persist, fully convinced that 
statehood is the only feasible way out of their dilemma. 
The constitution which they drafted to be operative 



208 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

in the new state is, like their creed, full of puzzles and 
perplexities. The article on polygamy is especially 
deserving of the attention of political economists. At 
one fell stroke of a pen ("divinely guided," I suppose) 
this solemn declaration is put on record : 

"Bigamy and polygamy being considered incom- 
patible with a republican form of government, each of 
them is hereby forbidden and declared a misdemeanor." 

What could be more unexpected and confounding 
than this ? That Mormons, who have been so unyield- 
ing in this matter for forty years, should come out with 
such a declaration! Astonishing! Does this really 
mean the dawn of reformation in Utah ? But before we 
become entirely lost in bewilderment, let us examine 
a little and be assured that the Mormon sagfe has not 
worked in his usual trap-door attachment. 

" Bigamy and polygamy ! " what do they mean ? 
It just occurs that when the writer used these terms 
when interviewing the priesthood, they were almost 
invariably repeated by the latter in such expressions 
as "plural marriage" or "celestial marriage." The 
evangelist even took the pains to politely explain that 
they did not call the taking of more than one wife 
polygamy, but plural marriage. The Mormon notion 
of polygamy is the marriage of two or more Avives 
without the sanction of the church ; but when con- 
firmed by the priest (and hence by heaven) the mar- 
riage to more than one woman is simply " plural " or 
"celestial" — or as sometimes termed "patriarchal." 
So when they make declarations against bigamy and 
polygamy they evidently mean that they are in favor 



STATEHOOD FOU UTAH. 



200 



Of pmnshmg " outsiders " who have more than one 
wife. I don't find anytliing in their constitution about 
punishing the act of " plural " or " celestial " marria<.e 




UON'S HEAD ROCK, GREAT SALT LAKE. 

Even bigamy and polygamy, as tliey use the terms 
are seemingly less grave offenses than, commonly sup- 
posed, since they reduce them from crimes or felonies 
(as treated in all the states) to misdemeanors. Hence 



210 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

even these, wliile punishable as misdemeanors, would 
not debar their perpetrators from the right to vote and 
hold office — thus nullifying the Edmunds act. This, 
to all appearances, is one of their trap-door arrange- 
ments. There are, however, those who claim that it is 
not in order to pass judgment on the intentions of the 
committee in reference to bigamy and polygamy. In 
the absence of actual knowledge, say they, these terms 
must be construed in the usual sense. 

But how much does this better the situation ? 
Assume that these terms in the ambiguous document 
refer to " plural marriage." We then have the charm- 
ing attitude of a people declaring against one of the 
fundamental doctrines of their creed and pronouncing 
it a misdemeanor at the same time that they hold it as 
a divine revelation, teach it from their pulpits, practice 
it in defiance of law and vehemently denounce the 
government for interfering with their belief. Surely 
" he who laughs last laughs best," when analyzing a 
Mormon's declaration of principles. In this charitable 
view of Mormon intentions, their church articles and 
convention resolutions furnish most intoxicating pabu- 
lum for thought. For example, one of their public 
documents says : 

" Among the principles of our religion is that of 
immediate revelation from God; one of the doctrines 
so revealed is celestial or plural marriage, for which 
ostensibly we are stigmatized and hated. This is a 
vUal part of our religion, the decision of the courts 
notwith standing. ' ' 

Again, in a late address of the church, it is de- 



STATEHOOD FOR UTAH. 



211 




TRAMWAY IN LITTLE COTTONWOOD CANON. 



clared : " We can not, at the behest of men, lay aside 
those great principles which God has communicated 
to us, nor violate those sacred and eternal covenants 
which we have entered into for time and eternity." 
The chief and essential one of these "great principles" 
and " eternal covenants," which all full-stock Mor- 
mons have " entered into for time and eternity," is po- 
lygamy or " celestial " marriage, which is declared to 



212 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

be a " vUal part " of their religion. This " vital part " 
o£ their religion they now pronounce a misdemeanor. 
Was there ever such an anomaly? This surely can 
not be the intent of the committee, for a full-fleclgecl 
Mormon would hardly be expected to proclaim his 
favorite dogma a misdemeanor. Still public senti- 
ment is divided on this point, and there seems to be 
no way to settle the question except by giving the 
Mormons statehood, when the solons of Utah will 
be ready and willing to interpret their mysterous 
oracles. 

But one other circumstance favoring the explana- 
tion first given is, that no one half -tutored in Mormon 
conjury ever suspects a "saint" politician of using 
English in its usual or accepted sense when referring 
to polygamy, or anything else in which he attempts to 
pledge himself or party to fair dealing or correct 
living. 

Another peculiar feature of this strange document 
is its painful silence on the subject of " unlawful 
cohabitation." Nearly all the arrests and convictions 
thus far made have been for this offense, on account of 
the difficulties in the way of proving the crime of 
polygamy — all marriages being performed in the 
church without witnesses and by priests pledged to 
secrecy. Strange that earnest Mormons, anxious for 
the suppression of these unhallowed practices, should 
have omitted to provide penalties for, or even pro- 
nounce against, this offense — especially since it has 
proved almost the only avenue through which suc- 
cessful prosecution has been made. It is hard to 



STATEHOOD t'OR UTAH. 213 

escape the conviction that this omission is also one of 
their "trap-doors." 

In another j)lace in their constitution these astute 
diplomats have inserted a provision that the grade of 
the offense — polygamy — shall not be raised above that 
in the instrument, namely, a misdemeanor. This pro- 
tects the derelict Mormon for all time, so that he may 
vote and hold office, whatever betides him in his vicious 
career. It is hard to understand how patriots of the 
"People's party," posing as anti-polygamists, should 
go so far out of their way to secure such a signal ad- 
vantage for their opponents. It must be this is 
another of their trap-doors. 

The committee who framed this new constitution 
for Utah is alleged to be made up of monogamous 
Mormons, and for this reason it is tiiought by some 
that honesty of purpose characterizes their fair profes- 
sions. But it should be borne in mind that there is 
not so much difference at heart between a monoofamist 
Mormon and one of plural or " celestial " propensities. 
All polygamists were once monogamists, and the 
monogamist of to-day may decide to take to himself an 
extra help-meet to-morrow. It is well known here 
that the monogamists, as a class, uphold and connive 
at the doings of the polygamists; are working in their 
interest and in the cherished hope of restoring their 
leaders from exile, and seeing them returned to power. 
The Mormon hierarchy would be in sorry plight 
indeed without this grimalkin's paw. But all the 
plausibility which the scheme possesses from its be- 
ing pushed by this element of the church, vanishes 



214 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

when it is understood tliat the latter maintains the 
same belief in regard to those " sacred and eternal 
covenants" held by their polygamous brethren; that 
they affiliate with them; champion their cause on the 
sly, and in various ways labor to carry out their be- 
hests and strengthen the power of the church by 
secretly nurturing the " essential part " of its creed. 
Added to this is the suspicion which must necessarily 
attach to the intents and motives of a body of repre- 
sentative (?) men who would indite so incoherent and 
ambiguous a document as the "new constitution." No 
one here versed in Mormon legerdemain is at all mis- 
led or in the least puzzled to decipher the purpose and 
purport of their fair-faced declarations. 

But it is asked: To what extent is polygamy now 
practiced in Utah? This is a difficult question to 
answer definitely, since opinion is so divided. If Ave 
accept the version of the Mormon evangelist, who so 
freely discussed the religion and practice of the 
church, of which I gave an account in the last chapter, 
it would appear that the Edmunds law is doing little 
more than to induce privacy in the unlawful practice. 
Still there was the plain inference that their cause had 
received a set-back, which in his view was only one of 
those temporary reverses incident to true religious 
progress. There can be no rational doubt that polyg- 
amy is practiced clandestinely and to a wide extent. 
The Edmunds law has nevertheless accomplished 
much — indeed, has so demoralized the file and rank 
of the Mormon cohorts that their captains and com- 
manders are badly prostrated. Their commander-in- 



m 
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216 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

cliief found it so hot for liim at the capital that he fled 
from the country, and many of his followers followed 
suit. Under this salutary law nearly six hundred 
indictments were made from the time of its passage in 
1882 to 1887, inclusive, all but about five per cent of 
which were for unlawful cohabitation — the five per 
cent being for polygamy. About half of these indict- 
ments resulted in conviction. Among those who 
have taken the oath to abide by the law, it is believed 
that a great part have lived up to their pledges. 
Others Avho would not take the oath at all, and who 
have been convicted and imprisoned for these unlawful 
practices, have even refused all offers of immunity 
from punishment on condition of future obedience to 
the law. These are the "holy martyrs," or, as some 
call them, "holy tearers." 

Of all the pitiable sights in this country the most 
heart-rending is that of a Mormon martyr. He seems 
to be a sort of nondescript genus, belonging to a class 
of men who are "a law unto themselves." Denied the 
object of his lust, he walks right up to the prison door 
and takes his place in the dark and narrow cell, stiff- 
necked and stiff -backed, refusing to compromise his 
conscience and manhood by agreeing to be a law-abid- 
ing citizen; What a heroic example of fidelity to 
principle and fealty to personal conviction ! Poor mar • 
tyr to conscience! Persecuted in an enlightened age 
for refusing to give up his libidinous career and live a 
life of respectability and honor! If it wasn't for his 
conscience the government and he could deal and come 
to amicable terms. But conscience forbids the martyr 




ECHO CANON, 



218 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

to abandon one of the most degrading practices in tlie 
category of crimes and commands him to dethrone 
woman from her high estate, debase motherhood and 
heap Pandora's box high with mischief to the rising 
generation. This is what puzzles the wiseacres. There 
is a general prejudice in this country against interfer- 
ing with a man's religion, or punishing him for con- 
science sake. This is where the Mormon martyr has 
all the way been at an advantage. If he had simply 
complained of being abused for being caught at his 
neighbor's hen-roost or for toting off his neighbor's 
sheep at midnight, the case could have been disposed 
of at once. But instead, it has been the case of a man 
whose conscience forbade him to forsake the "hot-bed 
of corruption " in which he wallowed and substitute 
therefor a clean and manly life. If he had simply 
taken the ground that he was terribly misused and 
maltreated for practicing the less flagrant offences of 
incendiarism or cruelty to animals; or had he even 
posed as a picture of persecution because the govern- 
ment Avouldn't allow him to commit rapine and murder, 
there would have been little of all this trouble and 
perplexity. But when a man sets up the plea of con- 
science, even though it be for the devastation of human 
hearts and the wreck of human souls, we hear the cry: 
"Hands off." But it seems that the government is be- 
coming of late more and more disposed to deal sum- 
marily with these bad cases of conscience, and this is 
what spreads such consternation throughout the Mor- 
mon ranks. 

Among the fruits of my effort to study Mormon 



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220 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

cliaracter — especially that of the polygamists, I find, 
first, that they must be credited with consistency. 
They are consistent in two things — in being " first, 
last and all the time " in favor of having all the wives 
they want, and in wanting the government to let them 
have their own way about it. Second, I find a trace of 
sincerity — they sincerely desire to be allowed free 
course in gratifying their depraved lusts and low am- 
bitions. Third, they are not hypocrites — so far as 
concerns their favorite doctrine. They believe in 
this abomination, and instead of practicing one thing 
and preaching another, they come boldly forward and 
proclaim to the world that these abominations are '* an 
essential part of their creed," and that they have en- 
tered into them "for time and eternity." No hypoc- 
risy about that! The average monogamist Mormon, 
perhaps, shares these same sentiments, but he lacks 
the sincerity and frankness to openly avow it. Should 
he later decide to enter the blissful state of celestial 
matrimony, he will not be likely to revise his profes- 
sions in the midst of present complications. So, 
really, the three redeeming traits mentioned belong 
distinctively to the polygamist. 

But what kind of people are these Mormons any- 
way? is the question so often asked. In general it 
may be answered: About ninety per cent are foreign- 
ers. Thus far the writer has come in contact with few 
Americans among them. Many foreigners come to 
this territory to avail themselves of the flattering 
promises of Mormonism and iu the hope of bettering 



STATEHOOD FOB UTAH. 221 

their condition. About one-half of the sect is made 
up of the subservient vassals of the church. These 
are in the main ignorant, superstitious and easily im- 
posed upon, everything coming from the priesthood 
being to them law and gospel. They are, as a rule, 
under complete subjection to the hierarchy and go and 
come at their nod and beck. Then there is the more 
intelligent and " nothing-to-lose " class, who have 
failed in business or religion, or both, or perhaps in 
some other way become objects of suspicion in church 
and society, and hence are ready for adventure. These 
might perhaps be fitly designated as the " dead-beat " 
brigade. They are far less profitable than the vassals, 
being less useful and less reliable. Next above these 
comes the army of Mormon officers, such as the 
"first presidents,'' "bishops," "high-priests," "sev- 
enties," "patriarchs," "apostles," and the like — con- 
stituting, all told, nearly one-third of the adult popu- 
lation. They are the leaders and men of influence. 
Some of them are fanatics — the evangelist that I in- 
terviewed, for example — some, bigots, and some^ 
well — yes — if you will have it — rascals. "Bad 
men will get into the church." These men put on 
long faces, and wish to have it understood that they 
are en rapport with heaven. The fact is, their infa- 
mous and absurd doctrines come from the other direc- 
tion. They complain of being persecuted and pose as 
martyrs to conscience. As a matter of fact, they are 
simply martyrs to lust — lust for power and lust for 
woman. The spectacle of such men setting up the 



222 



GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 



plea of conscience is as pathetic as that of a wild Af- 
rican boar poring over the leaves of a prayer-book; or 
that of a bland Florida crocodile posting np on the 
Westminster catechism. It's difficult to say which is 
most deserving of onr sympathy. God speed the day 
when the last vestige of this national disgrace shall 
be wiped out. 





THE JORDAN TO THE 
UNCOMPAHGRE. 

On leaving the scene of our 
recreations and study at Salt 
Lake, the question arises as to 
the most advisable route east- 
ward, but as my partner had no 
choice, provided he did not have 
to go a-foot, and as I had none, 
providing we took the Denver 
& Rio Grande, the matter was 
quickly and peaceably settled. 
The forenoon ride was through a rich agricultural re- 
gion along the valley of the Jordan. The Mormons are as 

223 



224 GEAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

industrious as tliey are forbearing, and the fruits of their 
persevering toil is seen in rich farm lands made pro- 
ductive by their unremitting efforts. Our journey in 
this cheerful region lay between the Wasatch range at 
the eastward, and the Oquirrh Mountains at the west, 
while in the vicinity of Provo, lofty Nebo suggestively 
rises above his neighbors in an attitude of true sub- 
limity. 

Having taken dinner at Provo, the eating station, 
near Utah Lake, we are soon brought to Spanish Fork 
Canon, the point of departure from the Utah Valley, 
whence, beginning the ascent up the Spanish Fork 
River, we pass through a picturescj[ue canon, bordered 
by receding mountains and rocky walls. The train 
moves slower and slower as we climb the steeps, but a 
forty-mile ride brings us in due time to Soldier Sum- 
mit at an elevation of seven thousand five hundred 
feet. Descending from the height, we soon find our- 
selves in the remarkable canon of the Price River. 
This we follow for fifty miles, and to within a short 
distance of its mouth, where it empties into the 
Green. 

The scenery along the river is not only peculiar^ 
but really bewildering. One becomes so accustomed 
to certain natural forms that when approaching a new 
mountain or river scene, he expects a recurrence of 
certain configurations with which his senses have be- 
come familiarized; but now he is suddenly confronted 
by contours and colors for which he had never stipu- 
lated in his anticipation, and is therefore utterly con- 
founded by the strange combinations, of novelty, 



FROM THE JORDAN TO THE UNCOMPAHGRE. 



225 




CASTLE GATE. 



beauty and sublimity wliicli are here presented. The 
Price River madly dashes and foams among the rocks 
at his side, and the walls of the canon rise more ab- 
rupt and menacing as the descent continues. The 

15 



226 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

canon, too, grows deeper, the train crosses and re- 
crosses the winding stream, there is a premonition that 
something is coming, and the traveler is kept in con- 
stant suspense. Nearly every passenger throws aside 
his object of diversion within to see what is brewing 
without. Windows are thrown up, heads projected 
and platforms crowded. What means the commotion ? 
Presently the mystery is resolved, and we behold in 
front of us the majestic pillars of Castle Gate, com- 
mandinof the entrance to Castle Canon. Two massive 
walls of red-stained granite rear themselves to a height 
on one side of four hundred and fifty and on the other 
five hundred feet — walls that might be supposed to 
have been built by human art, but of such magnificent 
proportions that one can not but feel that human en- 
terprise would be unequal to the task. But wonderful 
as it is, and regarded, as it often is, the climax of the 
scenes along the canon of the Price Kiver, it appealed 
to the writer's sense as a felicitous introduction to still 
greater marvels beyond. 

The phenomena which greet the tourist in Castle 
Canon are so unique, unexpected and unheard-of that 
he can only gaze and exclaim:" unaccountable! " Here 
he sees what may be easily likened to the Koman Col- 
iseum, or the ruins of Luxor and Baalbec. Carried 
back to feudal times, we have unmistakably the 
stronof-holds of the feudal lords with their moats and 
battlements, their heights and magnitudes, which Scott 
in his stately language so delights to describe. Here 
indeed are kingdoms and commonwealths honeycombed 
with royal edifice^, As we ride for two hours through 



FllOM THE JOIIDAN TO THE UNCOMPAHGIIE. 227 

these mystic confines, we discover in the course of the 
journey, walls and parapets beyond which the imagin- 
ation converts the grotesque forms of rock into pro- 
jecting tops of castles, cathedrals, temples and Babel 
towers. To the right, before reaching Green River 
station, in the distance, are, to all appearances, perpen- 




UNCOMPAHGRE RIVER, 



dicular walls, immense squares and blocks of hewn 
stone — manifold configurations that are easily con- 
verted into military fortifications, church spires and 
domes — - in fact, almost any species of architecture the 
mind would recall, from Gothic to Egyptian, from 
Queen Anne to Yahoo. 

Castle Canon is a veritable wonderland, unique iu 



228 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

that its mountain-heiglit, rocky formations approach so 
closely in form to the architectural designs of man. 
These are not entirely of a fantastic order, for we find 
outlines of seeming geometrical accuracy. There are 
vast mesas of rock, resembling blocks of buildings in 
the form of oblong squares or circles, rising perpen- 
dicularly from massive abutments, several hundred feet 
in height and with tops apparently as level as a bill- 
iard table. Then we see avenues of buildings laid out 
like so many gigantic adobe dwellings, forming a Mex- 
ican municipality on an extraordinary scale, with 
plazas and palaces added. 

Sluggish, indeed, is the imagination that can view 
this strange phenomena without drawing from the re- 
markable formations a host of similitudes of human 
handicraft. In other parts of the country we find sim- 
ilar rock formations, but nowhere, extending over so 
great a terrritory, are there such striking architectural 
designs, such rock-hewn cities, such stupendous mag- 
nitudes, such unrivaled sublimity. 

As the sun sets over the western peaks a scene of 
indescribable beauty transfigures the castellated walls 
and towers that stand so bold and black against the 
clear-cut sky. My traveling companion now gets into 
one of his enthusiastic moods, and earnestly maintains 
that the castle of Torquilston has either been resur- 
rected from the dusky past and reinstated here on the 
western desert, or else Scott had this in mind from 
the beginning. For he declares that he can catch 
through the gloaming a glimpse of the Jewess Re- 
becca, standing on the high parapet in stately mien, 



FEOM THE JORDAN TO THE UNCOMPAHGRE. 229 

welcoming the dizzy depth below as an escape from the 
brutal templar, Bois Guilbert. As the sun sinks 
closer to the mountain-top, its reflecting beams set this 
same castle ablaze, and now we have the transcendent 




ON THE RESERVATION. 



scene of a vast conflagration far in the distant hori- 
zon. The Secretary protests that he now sees the 
maniacal Ulrici, just as Scott describes her, in the 
guise of one of the furies, with long, disheveled hair 
flowing from her naked head, her arms tossing in wild 



280 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

exultation as if she reigned empress of the conflagra- 
tion she had raised. I objected to all this as over- 
drawn; but he would not yield an iota, asseverating 
that it was all there. Former experiences had taught 
me the indiscretion of interfering with his mental 
recreations, and as I had myself found in these rock- 
formed prodigies so many suggestions of the strange 
and incredible, it was poorly in place to attempt to dis- 
possess my comrade of these delusions, if such they 
were. 

The west-bound tourist over the Denver & Eio 
Grande is signally favored in the time-card arrange- 
ments, which admits of seeing the greatest objects of 
interest throughout the length of the main line by day. 
Just as we had passed the land of castle wonders, 
darkness, heavy eyelids, and somewhat overwrought 
imaginations, all advised retirement and rest, which 
came most refreshingly. 

At about three o'clock the following morning, we 
were waked according to orders to disembark at Mon- 
trose — the only stop-off that we made from Salt Lake 
to Colorado Springs. The motives inspiring the self- 
sacrifice implied in the mention of this early hour 
were none other than those of personal friendship. A 
man must indeed have a strong hold on the writer's af- 
fection to make possible such an infraction of his long 
fossilized practices. After restlessly wearing out the 
balance of the night and breakfasting at the hotel, we 
were met by our old friend, F. D. Catlin, Esq., the 
County Judge, and one of the progressive young men 
of the west. Hospitality runs riot in Colorado, and 



FROM THE JORDAN TO THE UNCOMPAHGRE. 231 

the delightful way these days at Montrose were va- 
riously occupied, in grateful rest at the elegant resi- 
dence of our friend, driving about on the plains and 
among the mountains, overhauling the past and mak- 
ing the living present interesting to the fleet coyote 
and the bounding roebuck, is simply mirahile dictiC 

Montrose is a most promising town of one thous- 
and five hundred inhabitants, situated in the fertile 
Uncompahgre Valley, once the favorite hunting ground 
of the Utes. The town is romantically situated in 
sight of the Rockies, whose snowy summits gleam in the 
morninof sun, far to the east. At the south are the San 
Juan Mountains, towering heaven-high and guarded 
by the two Titan sentinels, Sneffles and Uncompahgre, 
both of which are over fourteen thousand feet above 
the sea. On the west are the Uncompahgre plateaus 
and peaks that extend far into limitless space, until 
broken by the canon of the Grand Eiver, one hundred 
and fifty miles away. Everything in nature about 
Montrose is wild and weird, and the tourist who would 
obtain one of the best pictures of contrast with eastern 
towns will find a brief stop-off in the Uncompahgre 
Yalley a pleasant incident of his transcontinental tour. 



CHAPTEE XV. 

OVER THE ROCKIES— MONTROSE TO MANITOU. - 

Taking leave of the Judge and his entertaining 
family who had made our visit to Montrose an occa- 
sion of uninterrupted pleasure, we again repaired to 
the iron track that is sure transport to 

" The mountains' everlasting wall 
"Wliere the thunders waters fall," 
to 

" Beauties that elude the grasp," 
to 

"Gleams and glorious seen and lost." 

The morning ride, however, was one of modest pre- 
tention. There were no overpowering flights of nature 
and hence nothing imperative to report, unless it be 
the mental uneasiness of an old lady in the seat just 
in front of us, who, whenever the train was about to pull 
out from the station, was constantly worried for fear 
the conductor might get left behind. From Montrose 
Uie road winds for some distance along the Uncom- 
pahgre Valley. The first station of importance is 
Cimarron, at the junction of the Cimarron Creek and 
Gunnison Kiver, a noted hunting and trout region, the 
breakfast station and the point at which the open 
observation car is attached to the train. To the latter 
we repaired after repairing the wasted tissue incident 
to the long before-breakfast ride. Such a deserving 
meal as is set before tli-e traveler at Cimarron should 

233 



234 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

not be passed by unnoticed. Wild game and trout and 
excellent cuisine generally, constituted the bill of fare. 
The tourist who so far forgets himself as to take it for 
granted that he is in a cowless region of the remote 
west and calls for sky blue milk without minnows, is 
surprised to find his order responded to by a glowing 
goblet of creamy nectar, containing neither a trace of 
struggling life nor a " reflection of heaven's own blue." 
Everything else is of the same order, and in fact all 
the eating stations on the line reflect credit upon their 
management. 

The Black Canon extends from Cimarron to Sapinero, 
at the latter place the observation car being detached. 
The elements constituting the distinctive features of 
this canon are the perpendicularity of its walls, their 
extraordinary height, which in places is from two to 
three thousand feet, and the no less extraordinary 
length through Avliich the remarkable phenomenon 
prevails, being nearly twenty miles in extent. Added 
to these are the beautifully polished j^ink-painted sur- 
faces of rock, and the peculiar configurations of the 
lines of separation, which, are variously smooth, 
straight, contorted, twisted and tied in knots. There 
is also the Avild scene in the bed of the deep sea-green 
river, where its foam -crested waters surge and rave, 
leaj^ing into the air, dashing against the vermillion 
walls and tearing about with reckless indifference to 
everything in its way. 

Among the landmarks of the Black Canon are Chip- 
peta Falls, that leap over the rocky walls of the canon, 
the sport of winds, much after the manner of the Yose- 



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236 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

mite Cascades, and Currecaiiti Needle. The latter is 
a conical tower somewhat in relief from the walls of 
the river and appearing to the observer like a massive 
obelisk rising out of the depths. Its lower proportions 
are such that its true loftiness is obscured by the mas- 
siveness of the base. It is, however, none the less 
deserving of minute attention and if time admitted, of 
careful study. It is of pink-red color and the sub- 
stance of the rock forming it, like the walls of the 
canon, are of extreme hardness. 

Some distance beyond the Black Canon is the 
delightfully situated town of Gunnison, commanding 
scenery of marked beauty in the Rockies. From 
this point a few hours ride along the beautiful valley 
of the Toijiichi River brings us to the steep grade that 
leads up to the back-bone of the country — the summit 
of the Rocky mountains, variously denominated the 
"dome," "crest" and vertebral column" of the continent. 
Here is the Great Divide and the melting snows close 
by diverge, one portion making its way towards the 
Pacific, the other seeking the far Atlantic. As Ave 
ascend in tortuous curves, peak rises above peak in 
front of us until, at the summit, called Marshall Pass, 
nearly 11,000 feet above the sea we catch, on emerg- 
ing from the snow sheds, a passing conception of what 
constitutes the upper Rockies — numberless peaks, 
countless domes, an infinity of undulating waves, fixed 
as the foundations of the earth in which they are set. 
At certain points on the western slope four distinct 
lines of the railroads are plainly seen. Some idea of 
the difficulties encountered in overcoming this highest 




IN THE BLACK CANON. 



238 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

barrier of the Rockies may be conceived from the fact 
that in places we ride a mile or more to gain a dozen 
rods, the steepest part of the ascent having a grade of 
220 feet. Descending on the opposite side towards the 
valley of the Arkansas, grand vistas of mountain 
scenery open up before the expectant observer. Dark- 
visaged Ouray rises bold and aggressive to the north 
Avhile the snowy peaks of the Sangre de Christo undu- 
late along the southern sky until lost in the far 
horizon. 

At Salida, the junction of the " Leadville Branch," 
a passenger from the far-famed mining town boards 
the train and reports the strange providence which, 
but the day before had swept a citizen of Leadville 
into eternity by the bursting of a boiler, and that too, 
while the victim was indulging in profanity. But it 
was arfifued that this was no orovidential occurrence 
whatever, since a bursting boiler could never get in its 
work on a Leadville man between his oaths. 

But what next? As the clown said, "Something 
else," and it is something else, and something else re- 
markable all the way. Now, as we fly along the road- 
bed beyond Poncha and Salida, noted health and pleas- 
ure resorts cheerfully nestled among the mountains, 
we are hurried down into the Grand Canon of the Ar- 
kansas. Here the Collegiate Range of mountains falls 
into the panoramic line of passing scenes — their 
highest peaks. Harvard, Princeton and Yale, lifting 
their whitened helmets over 14,000 feet in air. The 
scenery all along the canon is marked with striking 
features, but the climax is only reached with the Royal 




CURRECANTl NEEDLE, 



24:0 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

Gorge. The whole canon is a melodramatic sermon, 
seven miles long; but so well-conceived and such a 
masterpiece of eloquence that the audience is held in 
close attention to the last. The emerald waters of the 
Arkansas foam and rave in the terrible depths — the 
rubicund walls rise bold and threatening into the ap- 
palling heights. As the train advances the observer 
is more interested and more spell-bound, until break- 
ing suddenly upon his rapt senses, the awe-inspiring 
chasm springs into full view. Emotion reigns with 
liiofh hand and holds its reckless carnival in defiance 
of all efforts at self-control. Here we plunge down 
into a deep dark chasm, hemmed in by crimson walls 
of granite — down, doAvn into the bowels of the earth, 

" Where Tartarus with sheer descent, 
Dips 'neath tlie ghost-world twice as deep 
As towers above Eartli's continent, 
The heights of heaven's Olympian steep." 

" In front a portal stands displayed, 
On adamantine columns stayed ; 
Nor mortal, nor immortal foe. 
These massy gates can overthrow." 

Forward and downward we shoot, one thousand, now 
two, yes, almost three thousand feet below the top of 
the fissure, until Erebus seems close at hand, until 
reason is dethroned by delusion, sense by hallucination, 
and we almost involuntarily make the effort to be rec- 
onciled to the situation, and lay plans for a prospect- 
ive tour through the infernal realms. 

My traveling companion observes that if this really 
is the entrance to Tartarus, " How about the old fel- 



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242 GRAPHIC! SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

lows Theseus and Salmoneus, respectively, the rest- 
less adventurer and the hustling counterfeiter of Jove's 
thunder, who are said to be having a hard time of it 
in the nether world? Do you suppose we'll see 'em?" 
This was one of the Secretary's overcharges of enthus- 
iasm in which he always contemplates somewhat more 
than he can show for in the scene itself. As a matter 
of fact, however, the opposite picture — some of the 
scenes in the pleasure department of that lower world 
so pleasingly set forth by the Prince of Latin poets, is 
fairly well reproduced in the region entered through 
the Royal Gorge. The happily situated and scenery-in- 
vested Canon City is now reached, and soon Pueblo, 
Avhence a short ride brings us to Colorado Springs, 
Pike's Peak, Manitou and the Garden of the Gods — 
or if you please Virgil's Elysian Fields. We may 
adopt Dry den's version with a little alteration and 
scarcely go amiss in our application ; for here we merge 
from the chasm, Avhere, 

" Wide is the fronting gate and raised on high, 
Wirh adamantine columns, threats the sl<:y." 

From this auspicious exit our iron horse makes its 

way, 

" Wliere long extended plains of pleasure lie, 
Where verdant fields with those of heaven vie, 
With ether vested and a purple sky ; 
Where airy limbs in sport may exercise, 
And on the green, contend the wrestler's prize. 
Some in heroic verse divinely sing, 
Others in artful measures lead the ring. 
Here patriots live, who, for their country's good, 
In fighting fields were prodigal of blood. 
Here blameless men are wont to seek abode 
And poets worthy their aspiring God." 




ROYAL GORGE. 



244 



GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 



Like the realms described, the population of these 
delightful retreats is cosmopolitan, and the graces and 
amenities of the cultured portions of the world are 

honorably represented, from 
the scholar who can converse 
in seven languages to the 
wit who can hold his tongue 
in seventeen. 

Among the interesting 
places near Manitou and 
Pike's Peak are "Glen Ey- 
rie,'' " Seven Falls," " Chey- 
enne Mountain," " Seven 
Lakes," " Crystal Park," 
" Ruxton's Glen," " Eed 
Eock Canon," " Manitou 
Grand Caverns," " William's 
Canon," " Cave of the 
A REFRESHING ^SPRING. CASCADE Wiuds," " Raiubow Falls," 
'''^°''- "Ute Pass," "Cascade 

Canon," Green Mountain Falls," and " Manitou Park." 
North and South Cheyenne Canons are about ten 
miles south of Manitou and possess rare attractions in 
the way of mountain scenery. In South Cheyenne 
Canon are the " Seven Falls," and, near by, the Chey- 
enne toll road that leads to the " Seven Lakes." A 
short distance from the "Seven Falls," sequestered in 
one of nature's favorite sanctuaries, is the grave of 
the illustrious author of Ramon a. 

Cascade Canon, Green Mountain Falls and Mani- 
tou Park are now reached from either Colorado 




246 



GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 




'"' i . 



Springs or Maiiitou by the Colorado Midland Rail- 
way, which traverses the Ute Pass, amid wild scenery, 
and brings within easy access a number of noted places 
of interest. Stage connections are made at Green Moun- 
tain Falls Station with Manitou Park, a distance of 



OVEK THE KOCKIES. 



247 




THE BALANCED ROCK. 



seven miles. These cheerful summer resorts, invested 
with so much that is romantic and pleasing, have of 
late been growing in public favor, and are now much 
frequented by visitors from abroad. From Cascade 
Canon a fine carria^^e road has been built to the sum- 
mit of Pike's Peak, making the ascent of this mon- 
arch of the mountains a mere pastime. At the Half- 
way House and on the summit, refreshments are 
served to both man and beast. A short distance above 
the Half-way House is the " Balanced Hock," weigh- 



248 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

ing tons, and the Devil's Leap," a noted precipice half 
a mile high. A few miles further on at Grand View, 
under a favoring atmosphere, may be seen Marshall 
Pass, ninety miles distant, and the black columns of 
smoke rising from the laboring engines as they pull 
over the grade. The outlook from Grand View and 
the summit (when the latter is not obscured by clouds) 
includes one of the finest panoramas of the West, pre- 
senting scenes of unsurpassed grandeur, to be enjoyed 
by the spectator, but beyond the pale of description. 
The Grand Caverns are also reached by a carriage 
road extending to near the summit of one of the lesser 
peaks in the immediate vicinity of Manitou, being but 
a mile or two from the town and near the Ute Pass. 
About the same distance up Williams Canon is another 
of these marvelous caverns where stalactite and stalag- 
mite formations, glistening like polished horn, array 
themselves into the form of animals, fruits and flowers, 
and various Avorks of art. The resemblance in some 
cases is so striking that the tourist almost suspects 
that human art is being passed as nature's caprice. 
Closer inspection, however, of these wonderful floral and 
other artistic designs, into which nature has so cleverly 
woven her matchless frost-work, reveals a beauty so 
consummate and a workmanship so masterly that doubt 
can no longer be entertained as to their origin. 

Among the wonders in the vicinity of Manitou, the 
' Garden of the Gods ' is generally conceded a place 
at the head. But some find far more of interest in the 
strange phenomena than others. There is so much 
that is complex, varied and diversified that the average 



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250 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

visitor is greatly perplexed. AVhen it is considered 
that over an area of five hundred acres, and pro- 
jecting to nearly all heights up to four hundred feet, 
rise an indefinite number of rose-colored mounds, 
monuments and gigantic monoliths, assuming almost 
every conceivable attitude, and presenting grotesque 
figures never conceived by the caricaturist, it must be 
admitted that we have encountered a veritable freak of 
nature. There are at least the elements of novelty 
and mystery, and if we stand within the crimson por- 
tals of the famous gates and view the snow-crowned 
Titan of the Bockies, or direct the gaze to any quar- 
ter of the horizon, we must also add the higher ele- 
ment of sublimity. 

But it is not within the province of the writer's 
aim or the possibilities of his pen to fitly describe 
these romantic, scenery-intoxicating realms of myths 
and mysteries. To say that Colorado Springs is 
one of the most attractive towns in the region of 
the Rockies, to dwell upon the wholesome breadth 
of its thoroughfares and the luxuriant shade in 
which they are embowered — to enlarge upon its 
scenic attractions — to set forth the glory that clusters 
about mystic Manitou, the Garden of the Gods and their 
wild environments — all this would be little to the pur- 
pose. These places must be seen to be duly estimated 
and truly appreciated. So too with the wonderful cav- 
erns where nature seems to have made the effort, in 
some sportive mood, to mimic both human and barbaric 
art and where sweet music responds to the faint touch 
of her calcium harpsichord. Equally unsatisfactory is 



OVER THE EOCKIES. 



251 



the vain attempt to detail the virtues of healing 
springs, the fascination of canons and pleasure-para- 
dises and the strange historical associations that make 
them enchanted ground. The weak media of human 




ROCK FORMATIONS, GARDEN OF THE GODS. 



thought can not grasp the changing forms, the Protean 
guises, the lights and shadows, the contrasts and com- 
plements — the strange blending of colors. It matters 
not with what fidelity the picture is drawn; all said 
and done and the grand galaxy of Nature's train of 



252 GEAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

kaleidoscopic melodramas, remains a conception nn- 
conveyed— an enigma and a mystery still. 

The journey from Salt Lake to Manitou — from the 
valley of the Jordan to the valley of the Arkansas — 
from Mount Nebo to Pike's Peak — is one unprece- 
dented in the amount and variety of novel, unique and 
wonderful natural phenomena. We call it natural, 
because it is of nature, but much of it is so removed 
from preconceived conceptions that it might be fit- 
tingly termed unnatural. The tourist is constantly in 
a state of surprise and mingled astonishment, at times 
distrusting his own senses. The idea of seeing a vast 
amphitheatre, an imposing citadel or a colossal relic of 
ancient architecture, chiseled out by wind and tide 
and so nearly conforming to human art, is, to say the 
least, a matter of wonder. And then to view along a 
line of nearly seven hundred miles unrivaled mountain 
and valley scenery, to watch the fantastic phases of 
earth and sky, ride through gorgeous canons, survey 
dizzy heights and lofty pinnacles and study the walls 
and bastions and battlements, where 

" Huge piers and frowning forms of gods sustain 
The everlasting arches, dark and wide—" 

this, indeed, is employment fit for the gods themselves. 
Tlie spell of these enchantments may be gradually 
broken but the impressions made are not to be ef- 
faced. Such an experience carries with it more than 
momentary excitement, more than the ephemeral en- 
tertainment of the short journey, furnishing, as it 
does, both matter and inspiration for thought and 
study. The whole phenomenon is an open volume 




GATEWAY TO THE GARDEN OF THE GODS. 




Vl^ 



254 GRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE WEST. 

" Telling of time in the primeval morn 
When beast and man yet slumbered in the ground, 
When sentient life lay in the dust unborn, 
And wind and wave rolled on in ceaseless round ; 

" Of ancient epochs and of glaciers gone, 
Of rocks, abraded as the ages waned, 
Of times when earth became a floral lawn, 
And all the chiselings through cycles gained." 

There is, too, the moral, as well as the reflective 
phase, since these revelations of the rocks can not but 
awaken a solemn awe and emotions of reverence. They 
teach the littleness and weakness of man, the folly 
of his finery and the poverty of his pomp and splendor. 
Such ofrand exhibitions of nature also widen the field 
of vision and give broader conceptions of the world. 
They enlarge the mental horizon and with it the view 
of life. Trifles and petty annoyances, which make up 
the average lot of misery, are unprivileged intruders 
in the royal presence of these sublimer thoughts. 



